


Just Say the Word

by EagleScoutJon



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: Hosiewritings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-04
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:26:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 25,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27380407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EagleScoutJon/pseuds/EagleScoutJon
Summary: “Just say the word,We’ll take on the world”Except, Hope didn’t know what her world WAS anymore.Six months ago, she had jumped into the Malivore pit.All chapters have a song associated with them, if you wanna check out the playlist, click below!https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6kTAfDr2heApn7BnWwP20N?si=2Nzi7v-qSX-KOEg9VWtMIg
Relationships: Hope Mikaelson/Josie Saltzman
Comments: 5
Kudos: 177





	1. Take on the World

**Author's Note:**

> So Chapter 1 is gonna be a recap/telling of S2 E1 from Hope's perspective.
> 
> Also, this is my first time writing anything and putting it out into the world, so constructive comments are welcomed, but please be gentle :)

Chapter 1: Take on the World

“Just say the word,  
We’ll take on the world”

Except, Hope didn’t know what her world WAS anymore.  
Six months ago, she had jumped into the Malivore pit. 

Six months. 

Hope spent Six months in that Hell. Six months not knowing if she succeeded in her Hail Mary play of jumping into the Malivore pit to fully close it for good. Six months with only Ryan Clarke as her only form of ‘human’ contact. That was, until she was spit out one day. Just sucked up into a vortex and she reappeared in Mystic Falls like nothing had ever happened. That brings us to now. 

It was late, the air was cold. Hope found herself going to the one place she had called home, The Salvatore School for the Young and Gifted. She approached the iron gates with the large giant ‘S’ on them and had arrived just as a car was pulling out. The car came to an abrupt halt.

“I didn’t see you, are you okay?” asked the middle-aged African-American man getting out of the car

“Yeah Dorian, I’m okay,” Hope responded very casually. To her, this was just another conversation with the school librarian. She did, however, find it odd that he didn’t welcome her back with open arms.

“Glad to hear it, but how did you know my name?” the man, now identified as Dorian, questions very skeptically. 

Hope stands there, silent for a beat, as if allowing the gears to start turning in her mind. No one remembers her. She jumped into the Malivore pit and even though she was ejected, no one got their memories of her back.

“Your parking pass,” she responds, after realizing too much time has elapsed since she asked the question. She looks over Dorian’s shoulder at the faculty-parking pass hanging from his rearview mirror. Dorian’s eyes follow hers to the dumb yellow tag with his picture and name on it.

“Always hated that picture,” he responds, trying to bring some light-heartedness to the conversation. “What brings you out here tonight?”

Hope smiles for a second and then replied “A boy.”

Dorian nods understandingly “Well, we’re all locked up in there. Everyone’s gone for the summer.”

“Okay. Thank. Uh, sorry to bother you,” Hope responds as she turns around and starts to walk away. Dorian exhales as he gets back into his car, watches the gates close behind him and drives away.

Once she is sure the librarian has left the premises, Hope turns around. She walks up to the keypad callbox and enters the five-digit code and walks right on in as the gates to the school open. 

She finds her way out to the Old Mill, expecting to find the aforementioned ‘boy’ that she told her former educator about. Oh did she find him, but it was NOT what she expected. The woods surrounding the Old Mill were always a welcome home to her. It’s where she first transformed into her wolf form, which she loved so much. She probably needed to release soon, it had been quite some time and she could tell her inner wolf was getting antsy. It was also the site of so many monster battles in the previous year.  
She hears the sounds of a movie coming from a certain direction. As she gets closer, she can see the light from the projector too. She also sees the silhouette of the mop headed boy that she loved so much.  
Epic Love.  
Her mother had told her to had at least “one totally epic love” in her lifetime. She had heard stories of Epic Love in the past.  
Her mom and Uncle Elijah.  
Her dad and Caroline.  
Her Uncle Kol and Aunt Davina.  
Aunt Freya and Aunt Keelin.

Everyone in her family had found their Epic Love.

And she had thought she had found hers in Landon Kirby, the mop-headed, runaway, Phoenix/Son of Malivore. He was her everything. She spent every waking hour thinking of Landon while she was trapped in the Malivore pit. He was the first person she wanted to tell that she was back. She couldn’t wait to pick right back up where they left off. They were each other’s Epic Loves; or so she thought. 

The scene that Hope saw when she got to the movie screen was a sight she thought she would NEVER see. There was Landon, in all his ‘human-sized Muppet’ glory. There was another figure there as well. A girl that was a little taller than Hope, but about the same height as Landon. Her brunette curls falling perfectly. Wearing a yellow-dress that hugged her body perfectly.

Josie.  
Josette Olivia Saltzman. 

Hope and Josie’s relationship pre-Malivore dive was a complicated one. Up until recently, the two hadn’t been on speaking terms. The Saltzman twins, Lizzie moreso than Josie, had hated Hope ever since the year Hope’s room caught on fire just before Spring Break. The Forbes-Saltzman family had to cancel their family vacation and Lizzie has always blamed Hope for it, thinking she intentionally set her room on fire.  
It had only recently come out that Josie was the one who set Hope’s room on fire. Josie had admitted to having a crush on Hope when they were younger and she went and slipped a note admitting her feelings under Hope’s door. She then got cold feet and tried to set the note on fire to hide it but the fire grew a little larger than Jo had expected and set Hope’s room ablaze. It destroyed most of her possessions. All of the family pictures, the paintings she had done with her late father; everything.  
Since the present day admission of Josie’s former feelings and explanation of everything, the girls had gotten closer and become sort of friends at this point. Then, Hope jumped into Malivore, thinking she was the only one who could seal the pit, and now here we are.  
Hope watches as Landon and Josie dance a little bit, then they get closer and their lips touch. The moment their lips touch, Hope’s heart shatters into a million pieces. The only boy she’s ever loved, her Epic fucking Love, kissing her best friend, in front of her! And the worst part is, she knows they don’t remember who she is. They don’t even know Hope Mikaelson ever existed.  
Hope starts to cry as she turns around and walks away. Heartbroken, alone, and forgotten.  
She gets to the bus station. The same bus station she saw Landon off from when he went to find out more about his mother. She waits for the next bus and is alone with her thoughts.  
Finally, after a good time, she sees headlights coming from down the road.  
“It’s about time,” she utters, standing up and getting ready to leave Mystic Falls, VA once and for all. She didn’t know her destination; she just knew there was nothing left for her here. She could go to New Orleans, but odds are if her classmates didn’t remember her, then her family wouldn’t either. She could always try to explain it to her Aunts Freya and Keelin. I mean, there’s gotta be pictures of Hope in the Mikaelson Compound, right?  
Suddenly, she is shaken out of her thoughts as the bus flips over in the middle of the road! Hope is amazed, and also concerned for the people inside. Beyond the bus, she sees a creature of pure disgust. A large green creature with too much hair for Hope’s liking. Luckily, the creature has a burlap loincloth. The creature, which Hope suspects is a Troll, roars a big roar and starts barreling towards Hope.  
Wide eyed, Hope does the only thing she can think of.  
“Incendia!” she exclaims as a ball of fire flies out from her hand, injuring the troll and sending it running off into the woods.  
“Well, I guess there’s still something for me to do here in Mystic Falls after all,” she decides. She checks on the overturned bus and see the only person inside is the driver, who was knocked unconscious by the crash. She grabs his cell phone and dials 911, explaining that there was an accident. She gives the operator the location of the bus stop and hangs up. Hope decides to follow the troll into the woods, immediately remembering that Landon and Josie are presumably still out there. Her heart may be broken, but she still doesn’t want her friends to get hurt.


	2. I Wanna Feel Something

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hiya :)  
> Ric and Hope re-meeting.  
> What I think should have happened offscreen after Hope tells Ric.

“I’m tired ‘cause I don’t wanna be,  
Make Believe”

It has been a whirlwind few days since the beginning of the troll incident. First, Hope had to fake enroll at Mystic Falls High School, where she learned Alaric, the closest thing she had to a father, had become the school Principal. Then the two of them took down the troll, which actually turned out to be a Cyclops. That’s when Hope saw Landon in the park and they shared longing stares at each other before she ran off. She ran back to Alaric’s office, seeing him doing some late night paperwork. She decided now was the time. She broke down in front of him.

“My name’s not Hope Marshall. It’s Hope Mikaelson. I’m Klaus and Hayley’s daughter,” it’s obvious that she is struggling to get through this. Alaric stands up from his chair with the concerned father look on his face.  
“And I know you don’t remember this but, um… you’re the closest thing I have to a father now. And the entire world has forgotten that I exist and the boy I loved has moved on. So, I have absolutely no idea what to do next,” at this point she is full on crying. Tears streaming down her face  
“It’s ok,” comforts Ric, “we’ll figure it out together,” he moves in and pulls her into a hug. It feels nice, the first real form of human contact she’s had in a long time. 

After that exchange, Ric invites Hope to stay with him at the Forbes house. As Hope grabs what little bags she has, just a few things she has acquired over the short time she has been out of Malivore, and gets into the truck and they drive off, mostly in silence. They stop and grab a pizza on the way to the house because, let’s face it, pizza make everything better.  
They pull into the driveway and Hope realizes she has never seen the Forbes residence before. “What is this place?” she asks, very intrigued.  
“It’s Caroline’s old house. She inherited it when her mom passed away. We kept it as a safe space for kids who are new to the supernatural lifestyle. A place for them to stay before their families decide if Salvatore is right for them. It also comes in handy for those times when I get removed as headmaster but still have to stay close to my girls,” Alaric says, the last part comes out with a little sting.  
“Right, sorry about that all happening,” says Hope, awkwardly not knowing what to say or do at this point. To be fair, she had no idea Ric wasn’t headmaster of Salvatore until she saw him walking down the halls of Mystic Falls High. They both hop out of the truck and walk inside. The house is small, but feels a lot more like a home than a house. Hope sees pictures of a young Caroline, well probably around the same age as she is now, and who Hope can only assume to be her mother. There are also pictures of Caroline and Stefan Salvatore; Hope only knows what the latter looks like because of the lessons taught at Salvatore. Then she sees the cutest picture she has ever seen. Caroline holding a young Josie and Lizzie as tight as she possibly could. ‘Man, Josie was cute even back then,’ Hope thinks to herself, and then shakes the thought very quickly.  
“Okay, so my room is upstairs and to the left. You can stay in Caroline’s room, which is up the stairs and to the right,” Ric says, gesturing up the stairs to either direction as he speaks, “Get settled and come on down for some of this pizza, but do it quickly before I eat it all, ha.”  
Hope sees that Ric is trying to make things comfortable between them. She appreciates it but it still doesn’t change that he has forgotten everything. The countless 5am wake ups for training, the weeks of monster attack after monster attack, the countless recruitment missions for new students that the two of them have gone on together. All of these thoughts hit Hope as she reaches the top of the stairs and she immediately breaks down.  
‘Get to Caroline’s room. Just get there and then you can cry in peace,’ she thinks, picking herself up and making a beeline for the room Alaric gestured to. She opens the door and sees that it definitely is the embodiment of Caroline. Perky, peppy, but everything has a place. It’s also very well adorned. Lots of photos everywhere and a lavish bed with frilly pink bedding. Hope drops her bag on the bed and just lets out a big old cry. Even after exposing her secret to Alaric, she still doesn’t feel better. All of her friends, everyone she knew, her family, even the love of her life doesn’t remember a single thing about her.  
After about 5-minutes of sobbing, she hears a voice call out from downstairs “Hope! Pizza is getting cold! Better hurry up!” It’s Ric, always being the father figure. I guess he’s gonna try and take that role with her now that she is staying here.  
“Be right down!” she yells back between sobs. She stands up and pulls herself into the bathroom. Looking in the mirror, it’s very apparent she has been crying. Her eyes are puffy red and her face is blotchy. She runs the faucet and splashes some water on herself, trying to calm down everything. She dries her face and sees it’s gotten a little bit better but there’s still evidence she’s been crying. Whatever, she doesn’t care if Ric sees anymore. He probably assumed that’s what she was doing anyway.  
She gets out of the bathroom and hops on down the stairs into the kitchen, where she finds Ric has already devoured half of the pizza!  
“Sorry…I got hungry and you were taking a while,” he says sheepishly, washing down the current slice with a glass of bourbon. She grabs a slice of pizza and sits down at one of the chairs at the counter, opposite Ric. “So, is uh, everything ok? Do you like the room? I know Caroline is a bit lavish and grandiose but I figured you would like that room better than the twin’s childhood bedroom.”  
“Yeah, it’s fine. A little too pink but it beats the park bench, ha,” she laughs it off, trying to forget about the nights she has spent curled up on a park bench, and then waking up early enough to shower at the high school before other students arrived.  
“Well, I leave pretty early for the school so you can either choose to ride in early with me or go later on your own, it’s up to you. Obviously we can stop to grab breakfast or coffee or something on the way if you want,” Ric offers.  
“Going in with you is fine. I have no qualms about early rising. You should kno-“ she catches herself before finishing her sentence. She looks down hurriedly at the pizza on her plate.  
“Right, the uh, stuff I don’t remember,” Ric let’s a beat pass, “Listen Hope, I don’t expect you to tell me right away, but at some point, I wanna know. I want you to tell me about you. About everything that we all seemed to have forgotten.”  
“Y-Yeah,” Hope stutters, “you’re right. But, not right now.” The pair continues to eat their dinner in silence.  
Once the whole pizza is finished, the two sit in silence for a little while, as if neither of them knows what to say. Eventually, Ric looks at the clock and stands up  
“Welp, I gotta get to bed. I urge you to get some rest as well. Today was a big day, you’re probably exhausted both mentally and physically.”

Alaric doesn’t know the half of it.

“Yeah, I could use some shut eye. And hey Dr.-I mean Principal Saltzman?” She says as the fatherly figure is standing in the doorway to the kitchen, ready to run in for the night  
“Yes Hope?” he responds, very unsure of what she’s about to say. Just then Hope gets up from her stool and walks over, giving him a hug.  
“Thank you for this. For letting me stay here, for believing my story, for not reporting me to any child services agencies,” she says, tears beginning to well in her eyes.  
“You’re welcome Hope. From what you’ve told me, you’re like my third daughter, so I didn’t feel right just leaving you out there to fend for yourself. You’re welcome to stay here as long as you like. And don’t worry, you can call me Ric,” Ric hugs back, comforting her for a bit before letting go and heading off to bed. Hope stands in the kitchen after he leaves and for a short time, she thinks everything is going to be okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I saw the idea of them keeping the Forbes house as a transition house in another fic, so I kinda borrowed it? I think it makes total 100% sense tbh.
> 
> Also comments are always welcome :)


	3. You Were Good to Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything is back to normal, or is it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HI!
> 
> Thanks for reading :)
> 
> Let me know if you have any comments :) I'd really appreciate it
> 
> Thanks!

“After everything I’ve done,  
You Were Good To Me”

Everything was NOT okay.

Well, it was kind of okay. Except for the fact that no one, except for Ric, knew whom Hope was. That was, until Lizzie had gotten blasted with a black magic spell so strong enough that it had flooded back all her memories of the one, the only Hope Andrea Mikaelson. But that wasn’t why everything was not okay. Hope actually enjoyed having Lizzie around. She would come over to her dad’s house and the two girls would hang out for hours. Lizzie constantly pestering Hope to tell Landon and Josie about herself, so that way Josie could stop having a vacation on ‘Muppet Treasure Island.’ Hope had to admit, that one was funny.  
No, the real issue was that Josie was getting suspicious. She was getting suspicious of the longing stares the Hope and Landon would exchange every time they fought a monster. Not to mention how protective of Landon Hope was. Unknown to everyone, Josie had traveled all the way to New Orleans, to meet with a very old witch. The oldest living witch, if Josie’s research was correct. The first-born Mikaelson witch; Freya.  
At first the older witch didn’t want to help the young Siphoner, but then Josie brought up something Freya has been curious about for some time now.  
“You have photos in your home of someone you don’t recognize. Feels like you should know them but you don’t” This got Freya’s attention. She turned around and agreed to help the young Siphoner with her spell.  
Once Josie had perfected the spell, she came back to the Salvatore school and blasted everyone with it. Suddenly, everyone had remembered Hope. And that meant EVERYONE. Including Landon, including Josie. Oh dear. Poor Josie, poor Landon. They were going to hate her. They both looked so happy together and now everything is going to get complicated. I guess it’s time she faced the music.  
Hope spent most of the morning pacing around her, err Caroline’s, room. Trying to figure out what to say, what to do, whom to talk to first. Then her phone rang. She glanced at the Caller ID and saw it was Lizzie.  
“Hey Lizzie, what’s up?” Hope asks the blonde siphoner over the phone.  
“Don’t you ‘Hey Lizzie’ me Hope Mikaelson! Where are you?” spat back Lizzie.  
It was good to have Lizzie back.  
“I’m at your dad’s house, why?” Hope spat back.  
“Get. Here. NOW!” click at that, the phone was hung up. Hope sighed.  
“Well, I guess it’s now or never,” she grabbed her bag and headed out the door. 

It didn’t take Hope long to get to the front gates of the Salvatore school. She leaned out the window of Alaric’s truck and punched in the gate code. This was the first time Hope had been to the school since the black magic spell. Hope pulled up to the front door and slowly got out the car. She took a deep breath and opened the heavy front doors to the school. Everything seemed normal for the most part. She got a few weird stares, a few hugs and ‘heys’ from students she hadn’t been that close with. She eventually made her way to the Twin’s room and what she heard from the outside of the room was NOT what she was expecting. There were sobs, lots of them, and they were loud. Hope raised her hand and knocked on the door.  
“Go away,” came back a voice. It was Josie’s. Hope could always tell her voice. Even though it sounded as if she was the one who was crying, her voice still sounded beautiful.  
“Um, it’s me. Hope, that is. Lizzie called me? I was just wondering if she was in there…” Hope responded, hoping that she wouldn’t get the door open and receive a powerful blast of magic from the brunette.  
“Oh, uh, come in,” and suddenly the door had clicked open and opened into the twin’s room. It was very similar to what Hope remembered. The room was split down the middle and it was very easy to tell whose side was whose. On the left was the pretty pink and lavish side. That was Lizzie’s, weirdly looking identical to what Caroline’s room looks like. The right side was the nerdy, book smart side. Josie’s side. Definitely Josie’s.  
Except this time, there were the two girls sitting on the bed. The blonde comforting the brunette. Josie’s face was red and blotchy. Her eyes swollen from the obvious crying that had been going on. An entire box of tissues strewn about the bed and all around the room, overflowing from the garbage can.  
“Hi Hope,” says Josie, in between sobs. Lizzie stands up and embraces Hope.  
“Um, hey…what’s going on?” Hope is obviously VERY confused by the situation.  
“Read,” barks Lizzie, grabbing an open journal from the bed. Inside was an entry that looked fresh. After taking a minute to read it over, Hope’s face snaps up  
“He LEFT?! He just up and left. Typical Landon. Always just cowering away and never facing what he needs to face. We need to find him. We need to do a locator spell and find him. We need to drag him back here. I can’t believe he would do that, after everything that he and I-“ Hope catches herself. Realizing that not only did Landon leave her, but he also left Josie. That’s why the younger brunette was so upset. Landon left both of them. Josie stands up from the bed and embraces Hope. Both of them crying their eyes out together. Hope likes this. She strangely feels at home in Josie’s arms. It’s…comforting. Familiar. It reminds her of the before times. Before all of this. Josie’s scent of lavender and vanilla is so sweet. Hope gets lost in the brunette. Then she realizes that someone is calling her name.  
“Hope?” It’s Josie. Hug time is over. And Hope just spaced out completely. Welp, this is awkward now. Hope quickly let’s go of the girl she feels so at home entangled in.  
“Ugh, will you two just accept it? You will NEVER happen,” shouts the blonde twin as she grabs both of the girls and brings them into a triangle hug, “I love both of you and I’ll always be here for you, except for now. I’m meeting Sebastian.” Lizzie scurries off with obvious heart-eyes. This leaves an awkward moment between Hope and Josie. The first real alone moment the two girls have had since everything.  
“I’m sorry,” both of the girls say at the same time, they kind of share a laugh afterwards and then Hope speaks first.  
“I’m sorry for not telling you I was back. I was planning on it. I really was. And then I saw you and Landon at the Old Mill, watching that movie. I couldn’t bring myself to do it then. You both looked so happy and I didn’t want to crush the both of you. I guess that’s the Martyr complex in me,” Hope explained.  
“No, no, no, I’m sorry. I was such a bitch to you. I’m so sorry. I just thought that, well; Landon was the first person who really showed interest in me since Penelope and I didn’t wanna lose him. Look at you; you’re the perfect package. Why wouldn’t he leave me for you? I overreacted and I shouldn’t have. I think deep down though, I knew you. I had this deep down feeling that I knew you, and I just didn’t want to face it,” Josie shot back.  
“I wouldn’t say Landon was the first one since Penelope to take an interest in you,” Hope averted her gaze from the brunette  
“What does that mean?” Josie interrogated.  
“Nothing, it’s nothing. Just forget it, forget I said anything. I’ll see you later okay?” Hope turned around and tried to leave. Josie grabbed the redhead’s wrist and siphoned enough magic to shut and lock the door.  
“No. You’re not going anywhere until you tell me what you meant,” Hope had never seen this side of Josie before. She liked it.  
“I told you it’s nothing! Don’t worry about it, now just let me go,” the two were inches apart now. Hope could feel Josie’s heartbeat. She could feel her body heat. She could hear her breathing. She was anxious. She was nervous.  
“Me, Josie. I’m talking about me! I had a crush on you for like a week after you and Penelope broke up. But we weren’t exactly on the best of terms and then Landon showed up and it just brought back these feelings for him and I just dove head first into it. I thought he was normal and thought normal would be good for me. But I know that’s not true anymore,” Hope was ranting again. She did that when she was flustered and nervous, “There, you know the truth now. I, Hope Mikaelson, had a crush on you, Josette Saltzman. Can I go now? I’ll see you later,” Josie had unspelled the door and Hope opened it. Before closing it all the way, the older girl heard her name “Hope?” The auburnette turned around “If you ever wanna talk, give me a call.” The door shut behind Hope and Josie stood there. Speechless and dumbfounded at the information she had just learned. Hope Mikaelson, daughter of ‘the Great Evil’, the one and only Tribrid, had a crush on her? Couldn’t be true. But then again, maybe the signs pointed to it. Josie didn’t know what to think anymore. She just collapsed on her bed and lay there for a while; debating on what her next move should be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And idk, this chapter spoke to me weirdly, kind of? but Hosie finally confesses.


	4. Break Down These Walls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hope goes out to to the Old Mill to release, when she has an unexpected visitor after her run.

Chapter 4: Break Down These Walls

“I’m gonna break down these walls  
I built around myself  
I wanna fall so in love  
With you and no one else”

Hope had left the twin’s dorm and poked her head into the, newly reinstated, Dr. Saltzman’s office.  
“Hey Dr. S, I uh, need to release. Can I go to the back acres?” As Hope stepped into the office, Ric stood up from his chair behind his desk and embraced the girl in a hug, “Um okay? This is weird.”  
“You told me your story, but now I remember all of it. I’m so sorry I didn’t remember you. Yes, you can go to the back acres. Just be careful. It’s not fully dark yet. Also, come find me when you’re good and ready. I want to talk about you re-enrolling here,” Ric let go of the tight squeeze, giving the girl a once over and hugging her again, “I missed you Hope.”  
“I’ve been here the whole time; I literally stay at your house. But thank you Dr. S, I’ll be back soon,” Hope broke away and headed out towards the Old Mill. She got there rather quickly for being in her human state. This place brought back memories. The good ones like when her, Lizzie and Josie had defeated the Arachne. The three of them were such badasses that day; a modern day Charlie’s Angels. And then there were the bad ones. When she learned that her father had taken the Hollow inside of him and was planning to kill himself with the White Oak Stake, and not even say goodbye! When she accidentally stumbled upon Landon and Josie’s movie night. She couldn’t think about that now though. She didn’t want to think about how she watched her boyfriend and her best friend kissing. How soft Josie’s lips must have felt. Wait, what? Hope shook the idea from her mind. She walked into the building with her duffel bag and stripped down. She started the painful transformation. She hadn’t wolfed out in a while. A long time. It hurt, but it was a good hurt. Like she was letting go. Once all her bones had cracked and reformed, she took off running. She ran and ran and ran. Her estimate, by the fact the moon was now clearly in the sky, was that she had been running for hours. She trotted her way back to the Old Mill when she smelled a familiar scent. Lavender and vanilla.  
Josie.  
When wolf-Hope got close and the leaves rustled, the brunette made her appearance. Hope turned around when she saw her and was getting ready to run again when she called out “Wait! Hope don’t leave. I want to talk,” she sounded concerned. Hope whimpered back and nudged her to look away. The brunette turned around, facing away from the beautiful white wolf. The sound of bones cracking sent shivers down Josie’s spine. After a bit, the cracking stopped.  
“Erherm, could you throw me that duffle bag?” It was Hope’s voice. The transformation had stopped. Josie bent down inside the doorway and grabbed the duffle bag that had been placed there; surprisingly she hadn’t noticed it before. She tossed it blindly towards the fully nude redhead and continued to look away until told otherwise.  
“Okay, you can turn around now,” as Josie turned around; she was not expecting what she saw. Hope Mikaelson. Standing there, hair a mess, wearing nothing but running shorts and a sports bra.  
‘Damn, she’s attractive. Even after she just broke and healed every bone in her body’ Josie thought to herself.  
“So, what did you want to talk about?” this caused the brunette to snap out of her thoughts.  
“Oh um, I wanted to talk about earlier. Do you mind if we sit down?” Josie asked, taking a seat on the front steps of the building. Hope walked over and sat down next to her. Taking the bottle of water out of her bag and devouring it almost instantly.  
“Wolfing out works up quite a sweat,” Hope crushed the bottle and put it back in her bag. Now that they were in close proximity Josie noticed the Tribrid had a six-pack. ‘Abs? Hot’ the younger girl thought.  
“Um, so about earlier, I just wanted to talk and tell you where my head is at,” Josie was nervous; Hope could feel it.  
She was playing with her hands; Josie always did that when she was nervous. It was kind of adorable. “Okay, so where is your head at?” Hope asked. She took one of Josie’s hands and interlaced their fingers. She knew this was something Josie did with Lizzie when she was nervous, so Hope figured it must work the other way around. She ran her thumb along the backside of Josie’s palm and her heart rate slowed.  
“Honestly? I don’t know. I thought Landon was so perfect, ya know? What am I saying, of course you know. You also thought he was perfect. But he left. He’s not here anymore. He made his choice,” Josie had turned to face Hope now. Breaking their interlaced fingers.  
“Yeah, yeah he did. And that’s not fair to either of us,” Hope’s heart started racing faster at the mention of their shared ex’s name. Hope was furious at Landon for just leaving like that.  
“And listen Hope, I know you spent a while building up walls, ones that you let him in, and he broke down those walls. I, we, don’t want those walls up anymore. We want you to stay with us and not go back into that isolation and separation. We want you here Hope, I want you here,” the space between them had gotten smaller, “let me break down these walls.”  
Hope was very nervous, her and the brunette were VERY close now. Hope had felt butterflies in her stomach since the younger girl turned to face her. What is this feeling? She’s never felt this nervous before. Josie is probably the longest friend she has right now; they’ve known each other for what feels like forever.  
“Thank you Josie, I appreciate that. Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere,” Hope had moved closer. The two girls were now inches apart. Hope could feel the warmth of Josie’s breath near her. Hope didn’t know what she was doing but the next thing she knew, the space between their lips had disappeared and they were now interlocked.  
Hope was ecstatic. Fireworks were going off in her head. Definitely the only time this has ever happened to her. Suddenly, their embrace was broken by the sound of a cell phone.

“Shit, it’s Lizzie,” says Josie as she pulls her phone out of her pocket. “Hey! What’s up? Again? Ugh, okay. I’ll be right there,” Josie hangs up the phone and puts it away “Emergency in aisle L; her and Sebastian are apparently through…again. I’m really sorry to just kiss you and leave, but I’ll talk to you later ok?”

And like that, the long-legged brunette was gone. Leaving Hope there. Alone with her thoughts. And very confused.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading and all the Kudos! 
> 
> I am still nervous everytime I post a chapter. 
> 
> The next chapter, I am still working on so it might be a bit before it goes up.
> 
> Leave a comment, kudos or bookmark this story!


	5. Crush On You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hope and Josie have nightmares. They confront each other about them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiiiiiiii again :)
> 
> This one had me STRUGGLING hard. I changed the song associated with it like, 3 times before I settled on one. 
> 
> There's also a surprise cameo at the end! Enjoy :)

“My heart has a little crush on you  
So immature but these butterflies they keep me laughing  
My heart wrote a little song for you  
Won’t you take a listen and dance with me to the rhythm”

Hope can’t believe what just happened. Her and Josie Saltzman kissed. There were FIREWORKS. Holy shit. Then reality set in. Josie left. She ran at the first exit she was given. Did she not want this too? Was everything just words with no actual feelings behind it? Did their friendship just get wrecked because Hope acted on a feeling for once?

That’s it. The decision was made. Hope was just gonna avoid it at all costs. Never talk about it with Josie, never hang out with Josie one on one, and just forget that it ever happened. Even though that’s not what she wanted at all; she wanted to remember it. She wanted to talk about it with Josie. She really wanted to figure out what was happening and what all of this meant. But for now, it was cold. Hope needed to go back inside. She began the trek back to the school, duffle bag in tow. 

Hope got back to her dorm a little after and she quickly took a shower and changed into her pajamas. She lay down in her bed and tried to fall asleep. That’s when the nightmare started. 

She was alone and it was pitch black. Then suddenly, she heard laughing. 

The laughing got louder until she couldn’t take it anymore. Then, she heard the voices. They were mocking her. 

“You’ll never be good enough for her”

“She’ll just leave you, like everyone else”

“Everyone you love dies”

Then an image of Josie flashed before her eyes.

Hope woke up from the darkness in a cold sweat. Her bed was drenched. She wanted to scream. If she didn’t have doubts in her mind about what happened and what the state of her and the brunette twin’s relationship was, she definitely had them now. 

Her heart was racing a million miles a minute. She needed to calm down. Wolfing out. That always worked. She grabbed her gym bag and pulled on her shoes. As she went to open the door, she was stopped by a knock.   
Who would be knocking at this hour? She thought to herself.

She opened the door and there stood the girl she had been dreaming, nightmaring? About. Josie Saltzman.

“Um, hey Josie. What are you doing here?” Hope was very confused

“Sorry it’s so late, can I uh, come in?” Josie timidly asked.

“Yeah, sure. Um, have a seat” Hope gestured to her bed. She dropped her gym bag and took off her shoes.

“Going somewhere?” the taller girl inquired.

“Um, just out for a run. I had a night-“

“-mare, I know. I had one too. That’s actually why I’m here,” Hope was taken aback by the brunette’s bluntness, “do you think they’re connected? I mean, I saw your face in mine. I mean, I saw it right before I woke up. There were these voices and they were-“

“Making fun of you? Taunting you? Saying things to make you doubt yourself? Yeah, me too. I don’t know what it means, it could be some fucked up inner demons linked to the fact that everyone I love dies.”

“Hope,” Josie called, trying to interrupt her.

“Or it could mean that I’m destined to always doubt everything and never have anyone to actually love.” 

“Hope!”

“Who knows? I do know, that we don’t work. You’ll just get hurt. Or worse. And I care too much about you to let that happen to you.” She was rambling. Again.

“HOPE!” Josie finally slapped her to get her to listen. “You are not a mistake. You are not destined to be alone. No matter what you think, none of that is true. I’m here. I’m not going anywhere. You’re stuck with me. What is it you Mikaelson’s say? Always and Forever?” 

“Always and Forever. Yeah, that’s kinda our thing I guess,” Hope chuckled at this. 

“Is it okay if I spend the night? Lizzie is busy…making up…with Sebastian,” Josie said, shaking an ugly thought away of what could be happening in her room right now.

“Um, yeah, I would like that a lot,” Hope got the bed ready, and both girls fell asleep, peacefully this time, in each other’s arms. 

The sunlight hit Hope in the face and woke her up like a truck. She stretched and rolled over to face her girlfriend? Booty Call? They hadn’t defined their relationship yet. But when Hope rolled over, there was no one there. No beautiful brunette for her to kiss good morning. No note explaining “Hey, went to get breakfast, see you later!” Nothing. 

Hope got dressed and walked over the twin’s dorm and knocked, with no answer. She knocked again and still no answer. Finally, she spelled the door open to find no trace of the other Salztman twin either. Her bed wasn’t even made. Now this was weird. 

The Auburnette walked her way down to Alaric’s office and found no headmaster there either. As she was looking through all of the papers on his desk, trying to get some idea of if he was researching something that needed all 3 Saltzman’s dragged away abruptly, a knock on the door came. 

“Hey Alaric, I found him…again,” Hope turned her head up to find a man with short cut brown hair, a green outter jacket, gray t-shirt and jeans walking in, “Oh hey Hope, you seen Ric?”

“Oh hey Jeremy, no actually, I haven’t seen him. I was looking for him too. What are you doing here? Recruitment mission again?”

“Uh, actually Ric asked me to track down someone. A student that had left the school, I think you might know him,” And with that, in walked the one person Hope never wanted to see again. The Muppet baby himself; Landon Kirby.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BOOM! I just HAD to bring Jeremy into this. Definitely one of my favorites from the original cast and if he found Landon once, why not find him again?
> 
> Also, oooooo all the Saltzman's have mysteriously disappeared.
> 
> I hope you all liked it :) Leave a comment and let me know what you think! I'll try to get the next chapter out faster :)


	6. And You Made Me the Bad Guy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hope and Landon have a conversation.  
> Hope also learns about the power of the Gemini coven and what they can do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a little shorter than the others, but it does all it needs to in my opinion. 
> 
> I hope y'all enjoy it :)

** And You Made Me the Bad Guy **

_“I fought for you_

_I kept you safe at night_

_I would have risked my life_

_And you made me the bad guy”_

“NO! You don’t get to do this. You don’t get to come back into my life, OUR lives, and just mess everything up! YOU LEFT! You made your choice!” Hope screamed. She was holding back tears; it was obvious.

“I’m not trying to mess everything up! I just… I just needed some time to think, alright? And I made up my mind. I want you Hope! YOU! And no one else, not Josie, not ANYONE! Wait, where is Josie?” The mop headed muppet is back. Landon had just waltzed back into the Salvatore School and was acting like nothing had changed.

“You don’t get to know!” The truth was, Hope had no idea where Josie was. The couple had been asleep in Hope’s bed last night and when Hope awoke this morning, the older brunette was gone. No note, not text, nothing. And to top it off, the other Salztmans were also MIA.

“Uhhh, it looks like you two have a lot to deal with, so I’m just gonna go. When you see Ric, tell him ‘hi’ for me, will you Hope?” Says Jeremy, whom Hope and Landon just realized was still in the room.

“Sure thing Jeremy. Thanks! Be safe!” Hope called after him, but Jeremy had already taken off, leaving the two-angsty exes in the room alone, “So you’re back now? Do you have anything to say for yourself?”

“Uh, I’m sorry? I’m sorry that I left to try and figure out what I wanted. But I know now that what I want is you Hope, I love you,” Landon reaches out to grab her and bring her in for a kiss but Hope deflects and moves out of the way.

“While I appreciate the sentiment, I can’t do this Lan. You left. You hurt us, me and Josie. We were both inconsolable for a long time after you just decided to leave a note and be gone. Did you even think how it would make us feel? Definitely not wanted. It was already hard enough to feel like I belonged and was wanted,” Hope explained.

“Just, give me a chance. Please? Now where’s Josie? I should talk to her too,” Landon hugged Hope and then ran out of the door before Hope could explain.

“That was, surprisingly normal. Now, back to finding what happened to the Saltzman’s,” Hope pulled out her phone and decided to finally phone the most powerful witch she knows; her aunt Freya.

“Hope! Oh my God. How are you? I know I should have come back with Josie, that was her name right? If you ask me, I think someone has a crush on my niece. No one else would travel all the way to New Orleans, lie about their age and try to reverse engineer one of the most powerful black magic spells to get memories of someone back,” Freya was definitely rambling at this point, Hope began to think it was a Mikaelson thing.

“Aunt Freya, It’s good to hear your voice, but right now I have a problem that I don’t think I can solve on my own, do you have a minute?” and just like that, Freya astral projected in front of Hope.

“Hope! It’s so good to see you again! I’m glad you’re back. Now, what problem could be so big that my amazing, powerful niece can’t solve it?” The blonde Mikaelson witch was in awe at her niece. Sure, it had been a bit since they had seen each other, but Hope looked older, not just physically, but it had looked like she had continued to carry burden after burden on her shoulders. A Mikaelson trait that knows no bounds.

“So, um. Josie has disappeared. And her sister Lizzie, and Alaric. I woke up this morning and Josie was gone. No note, no text, nothing. I went to see Lizzie, and also nothing. It looked as though she was just plucked from her bed. And then I came here and haven’t been able to find Alaric either. I just don’t know what to do, any ideas?” Freya could see that her auburnette niece was very emotionally distraught by all of this.

“Hope, honey, it’s a very simple answer. And if I didn’t know the Saltzman family as well as I did, I would also think it’s crazy. Have you ever heard of the Ascendant?” Hope sat down as her aunt had described and explained the Ascendant to her. Hope then concentrated and was able to spot something she had never seen in all the times she had been in Alaric’s office, a box. It was on the bookshelf near his desk. As she walked over and opened the box, she found a contraption that was very intricate in design. It looked like a bunch of gears and clockwork type pieces put together.

“Honey, I can’t keep this up for much longer. I’ll make some phone calls and hop on a plane to Mystic Falls. In the meantime, call Caroline. She would want to know what’s going on. I love you Hope, I’ll see you soon,” and with that, her aunt was gone. Hope was now alone, again. She had some people to gather, and she was definitely NOT looking forward to telling the Headmistress about what was going on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now Hope knows all about the Ascendant!
> 
> Who do you think Freya is calling? How do you think Caroline will react to all of this?
> 
> Click back to find out!
> 
> Thank you to everyone who has left Kudos and comments! I appreciate all of them!
> 
> Let me know if you have any critiques or just want to say something about the fic! It's my first stab at writing one of these and putting it out into the world!


	7. You've Got Me Addicted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This one is following the Saltzman's in the prison world

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Saltzman's in the prison world? Oh no!

** Chapter 7: You’ve Got Me Addicted **

_“You’ve got me addicted_

_And I can’t tell who’s keeping score”_

Josie awoke in what she thought was Hope’s bedroom, but when she finally got the sleepys out of her eyes, she was in a room that was unfamiliar to her. At least, it kind of was? It looked like Hope’s room, but much older. Lots of older style tapestries, all of the furniture covered in white cloth.

“Hope?” Josie called out. She got out of bed and opened the door. This place definitely looked like the school, but at the same time it didn’t. It looked, older? Like how the school did before Josie and her family moved in. WAIT THAT WAS IT! She had somehow…gone back in time? I mean, that’s not the MOST absurd thing that has happened in her life.

“Josie?!” another voice! It sounded like her sister; did she get sent back in time too?

“Lizzie?!” the brunette called out and looked around. She was tackled from behind, she recognized the scent of her twin. She was at ease, but she still had so many questions, “Where are we?”

“It looks like the school, but way too old to be the school. It looks”

“Like it did when we moved in. Yeah. Girls, I’m so happy to see you,” This voice came from Alaric, he embraced his daughters in the biggest hug he could, “I think I have some explaining to do, sit down”

The family sat down back in the room Josie woke up in.

“I think it’s time I tell you girls about your Uncle Kai. You see, your Uncle Kai, Jo’s twin brother, was ostracized from his family. They deemed him a psychopath because of his siphoning powers, so he actually became a psychopath. Went on mass killing sprees, killed most of your mother’s side of the family. The members of the Coven locked him away in what’s known as ‘An Ascendant,’ a prison world of sorts. Only, he escaped that one. That’s a story for another time. But you, along with Aunt Bonnie, made another one; do you remember this?” Ric asked the girls

“I remember it. It was when we were young. It was one of the first times we got to use a lot of magic, right?” Josie remembered. She definitely did. 100%

“Yeah, Caroline didn’t want to let you do it, but it was the only way to lock him away forever. It was the only way I could make sure he wouldn’t get to you and hurt you anymore. Unfortunately, and I’m not quite sure how, but we are in that Prison World,” Alaric said the last part with a hint of fear in his voice, “Girls, I need you to listen to me. Do not leave each other’s side. Kai is dangerous. He could be anywhere, do you understand?”

“Yes dad,”

“Yes daddy,” Both girls said at the same time.

“Good. Now I need to go check on something. Hopefully, my old stuff is still around here somewhere,” Ric got up, hugged both is daughters, and walked off down the hall.

And that left the twins, currently kind of scared for their lives in the place that their crazy uncle was.

“So, uhhh, what do we do now?” Lizzie was the first to speak

“I don’t know, wait for dad?” Josie proposed, then it clicked, “HOPE! Oh mi gosh, she probably thinks I just walked out on her. No. She can’t think that. We need to get back Lizzie,”

“WAIT. Hold the phone. You and HOPE? Ugh, WHEN did this happen? HOW?! UGH, this is gross,” Lizzie was obviously repulsed by all of this information.

“Idk, we aren’t like official or anything. It just kinda, happened? After you walked out of our room the night Landon left, sidenote; bad sister move, Hope and I talked and it kinda came out that she had a crush on me and then I went to find her, but she was wolfed out so I just waited. And when she shifted back, I told her how I felt and we kissed and oh my God Lizzie, it was fucking magical. Like, literal fireworks. And last night I spent the night with her and it was so nice to actually be held, it was the best night’s sleep ever and I just want to be with her right now and I just don’t want her to think that I just left,”

“Jesus Josie, it’s like you’re addicted to her! Everything is gonna be ok. I’m sure Hope has already figured out what happened and is working her dang Mikaelson magic to get us out of here,” Lizzie put her hand on Josie’s chest to calm her down. Just like her sister had done for her oh so many times before. Josie’s heartbeat had regulated again.

“Well, isn’t this nice. Sisters being there for each other. I wish my family had been there for me,” in the doorway was a man that neither of the twins had recognized, “Now, which one of you do I take away from Ric first? The one named after his almost wife? Or the daddy’s girl? Hmmm, who to choose who to choose.”

“You’re-you’re our Uncle Kai. You killed bio-mom,” Josie realized. Her heartbeat escalated again.

“Oh isn’t that cute, you have a nickname for the one you didn’t meet. Maybe I’ll kill you first. You know you look like her. It’ll be like killing her all. Over. Again.” Kai was showing his signature smirk now.

The twins were scared, and they didn’t have their tribrid hero to save them this time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave a kudos or comment!
> 
> Also, if you haven't caught on by now, every chapter has a song associated with it. I put them all in a Spotify playlist if you want to listen :)
> 
> https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6kTAfDr2heApn7BnWwP20N?si=1U7xTImKTu2n5-KoYzBH-g


	8. I Will Rescue You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The cavalry arrives! A shocking truth is revealed! And oh boy, are there water works!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ngl, Might had teared up writing the introductions part of this chapter. 
> 
> Also, KINDA long (for me at least) but I felt it needed to be this long. Lots to cover.
> 
> As always, Kudos and Comments are appreciated :)
> 
> Thank you to everyone who has stuck around! I foresee this going maybe another 2-4 chapters? Don't have it super planned out.
> 
> Check out the playlist for this story!  
> https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6kTAfDr2heApn7BnWwP20N?si=qgHkttjlQxCQ-isjHPs-ZQ

** I Will Rescue You **

_“I will send out an army to find you_

_In the middle of the darkest night_

_I will rescue y o u”_

Hope woke up in her bed. Entangled in Josie’s embrace.

“Jo? Jo!? Wake up Jo! You’re here! You’re back!” Hope shook the brunette awake.

“Hope? Why are you freaking out? Of course I’m here silly, I didn’t go anywhere,” Josie groggily turned over and leaned in to kiss her partner. As their lips connected, everything went black.

Hope jolted awake. Another dream. She took in her surroundings; she had fallen asleep in Alaric’s office. She must have been studying the Ascendant well into the wee hours of the morning. Looking at her phone, she saw it was close to the time everyone would be arriving. She went back to her room and freshened up. She put on a simple, but regular outfit for Hope. Tight fitting white t-shirt, black jeans, combat boots and her leather jacket. She went to sit down on her bed and tie her boots and sat on something sharp.

“Ow, what the hell?” Hope stood up and lying in her bed was her Mikaelson family ring. She hadn’t worn it in a while, but with today’s esteemed company, she decided to slide it on her finger.

She looked herself in the mirror, flipped her hair and left, spelling her room on the way out, that way no one could get in or out without her present.

As Hope arrived at the school’s front entryway, she ran into Dorian, the school’s librarian/head teacher.

“Hope, glad I found you. School is on lockdown. All the kids are in their dorms. The senior kids are looking after the younger ones,” the authority figure said.

“Great, thanks Dorian. Now, we just wait,” Hope was nervous, and anxious, and exhausted. It was obvious.

“Don’t worry Hope, we will bring them back,” He gave her an awkward hug and took off.

As she went to sit down on a bench in the hallway, the front door flew open; almost off it’s hinges. Flying through the door came part of the esteemed company of today. Two blonde women and an African-American man.

“HOPE!” screamed the taller, fancier dressed one. She ran forward and embraced the auburn-haired Tribrid in one of the tightest hugs the teenager has experienced lately.

“Auntie Bex! Thank you for coming on such short notice,” Hope was gasping for air. The Original vampire got the hint and let go of her niece.

“I figured we could use some back-up. This is going to be a big operation and we need all the power we can get,” the other blonde spoke up.

“Aunt Freya, hey. Thank you. I had no idea you were going to call Auntie Bex and Marcel. I really didn’t want to cause you much trouble.”

“Hey kiddo, don’t worry, everything will be fine,” the man was next to hug the girl.

“Marcel, you didn’t have to come,” Hope tried to hold back tears. The man had been a bit of an older brother to her for sometime now and was always there for her.

“I don’t wanna hear none of that bullshit. I told you I would be there for you whenever you needed me. And from what Rebekah told me, you need me,” the pseudo-Original got down to her level and looked her dead in the eye.

“Thank you,” tears started to escape the ducts in Hope’s eyes.

“Starting the waterworks party without us I see? You always knew how to make an entrance dear sister,” everyone turned their attention to the man leaning on the doorframe, “Great handiwork, I’m sure one of us will be writing the check for that when we are done here. Hello there little one,”

“Uncle Kol!” Hope ran towards the man, who quickly closed the gap between them.

“Don’t worry, everything is gonna be alright. We brought the reinforcements. What are you kids calling it nowadays? A Super-Squad?” everyone chuckled as the rest of the party came into view.

A group hug on Hope soon occurred from all of The Original Family. Freya, Kol, Rebekah, Davina, Keelin and Marcel all held their niece so tightly. This was good. Hope had missed all of them dearly. Not to mention, this was the first time they had all seen each other since they got their memories back.

“Who the hell blew this door off the hinges?!” came a rather sassy voice from the doorway, “Oh, sorry. Didn’t mean to interrupt.” The voice belonged to a younger looking, almost 17 year old blonde woman.

“Hey Ms. Forbes,” Hope was able to speak from inside the cuddle puddle that was happening.

“Hope, please, call me Caroline. Thank you for the call, I got here as fast as I could, and it appears I got here at the right time,” Caroline walked up and hugged the tribrid with a compassion only a mother could have. It felt nice. Hope hadn’t had a hug like this in a while, “While we wait for our last guest, why don’t we take this reunion to my office, shall we?” Caroline let go of Hope and started walking. All of the Mikaelson’s following in tow.

As they arrived at the Headmaster/mistress’ office, there were already people in there. MG had assembled the Super Squad. He, Kaleb, Jed and even Sebastian were all sitting there, obviously worried and waiting.

“Hey guys, there’s some people I want to introduce you to,” Hope gestured to the group of people following her, “This, is my family. My Aunts Freya, Keelin, Rebekah and Davina and my Uncles Kol and Marcel. Family, this is my Super Squad. MG, Kaleb and Jed. Of course there’s also Josie and Lizzie, but they’re the reason we are all here.”

“Right, now that introductions are out of the way, let’s all have a seat,” Caroline took her seat in the chair behind the desk. Hope couldn’t help but notice how it suited her. She also knew where Lizzie got her sense of commanding power. Caroline definitely knew how to command a room. “I know that we always haven’t been on the best of terms, which is why I am very appreciative of you coming to help us with this situation,” the Headmistress directed her gaze towards Rebekah and Kol specifically. The Original Vampires nodded in understanding, “Currently, all we know is that Alaric, Josie and Lizzie are trapped in this,” Caroline picked the Ascendant up off of her desk and showed it off, “There are only two known ways to send someone into a Prison World. The first, and most common, is the use of Bennett blood and a celestial event. That is how we trapped Kai Parker there many years ago. The other is with a bunch of black magic.”

“Well, since there haven’t been any celestial events recently, I’m guessing it’s the latter?” spoke Kol.

“Correct. Now,” Caroline turned her gaze to the Super Squad. Her face sunk for a minute, reminding her of her own little Super Squad from back in the day, “do any of you know who has been using an intense amount of black magic recently?”

The boys all started to shake their heads when finally Jed was the one to speak up, “I do. It was Alyssa. Alyssa Chang.”

“That BITCH! Where is she?! She’s not gonna know what hit her when I am done with her!” Hope was in a rage at this point, her eyes had shifted from their normal ocean blue to the yellow that comes out when her Wolf takes control. She went to take off running out of the office when her two uncles stopped her.

“Hey there kiddo, where do you think you’re going? Violence isn’t gonna solve anything right now. You let your friends take care of this Alyssa girl. Boys? Would you be so kind?” Kol looked at the three supernatural teenagers sitting there with a little bit of scared, a little bit of dumdfounded/scared faces. The three of them got up very quickly after that and rushed out of the room. MG and Kaleb Vamp-sped while Jed ran after them

“Hey guys! Wait up! Don’t leave me behind!” his voice trailed off as he got farther and farther away.

“Good, now that this is settled, how do we get your family out of the prison world?” Rebekah was the one to speak this time. She approached Caroline, trying to Alpha-Dog the situation.

“I think I can help with that,” like clockwork, another female entered the room.

“Bonnie, hey. Thanks for coming on such short notice,” Caroline walked over and hugged the Bennett witch.

“Anything for those girls. And besides, I think I want to keep Kai Parker locked up just as much as the rest of you do,” Bonnie now fully joined the room, “Now, tonight just so happens to be a comet. My suspicion is that Kai is going to try and convince the twins to help him escape using the power of the comet. No doubt he’s figured out some way to get ahold of my blood. I can send you all in there, but it’s gonna take some heavy duty magic on both sides of the Ascendant to get you out.”

“I’m going in,” this was the first time Hope spoke since she lashed out and all eyes turned to her.

“Absolutely not! I am not letting my only niece be at risk of being stuck in the prison world forever. I don’t need Nik haunting me for all eternity because his only daughter was trapped,” Rebekah scolded at even the idea of her going into the Prison World.

“But you heard Bonnie! It takes lots of powerful magic on BOTH sides! Plus, I should be the one to go. Josie is in there and she’s my-“ Hope paused when she got to that part, “friend. She’s my friend. Lizzie too. Ric has been a surrogate father to me since dad died and I want to be there to see them all get out safely.”  
  
“Hope, I really don’t think you should-“

“Dear sister, don’t you know, she’s a Mikaelson. She’s not gonna give up at this,” Uncle Kol put a hand on Rebekah’s shoulder, “besides, she won’t be alone. I’ll be going in there with her.”

“Me too,” spoke Marcel, also going to comfort Hope, “Besides dear, your niece isn’t a fragile little baby anymore. I’ve heard of her exploits since she came here and she’s quite the badass if I do say so myself.” Marcel smirked at Hope, reassuring her.

“Well fine, if you’re all going, then I’m going too,” Rebekah finally caved.

“Now wait just a minute, that makes 4 going in and 7 coming out. That’s gonna be some intense magic that’s needed. Hope, are you sure about this?” Bonnie now turned to the young girl. It was the first time they had met and yet, Bonnie had felt like she had met her before. She had all the best features of Klaus and Hayley. Bonnie also knew what it’s like to have a martyr complex.

“Yeah, I’m ready for it. The twins can siphon from the others and me. Between all of us, there’s enough magic to get us all out,” Hope was sure of it this time.

“Then it’s decided. We won’t have long to do it, so let’s go get ready. Davina, Freya, we’re gonna need-“

“Already got all of the ingredients. Don’t you worry,” Freya interjected, cutting Bonnie off, “It’ll be nice to work with you Bonnie Bennett. Your family’s lineage is famous in our household.” Freya gave a smile and Bonnie returned it.

“Before we get started, can I have a word alone with Rebekah, Kol and Marcel?” Bonnie asked and the rest of the room cleared out, “So, there’s a VERY big chance that Kai could still escape. If he does, the Prison World will start to collapse. You can still get out, but someone will need to stay behind as the anchor or else the world will collapse and not let any of you out. This is why we need to do it quickly, before Kai gets out. Make sense?”

“Makes total sense,” Rebekah agreed. No one noticed the hiccup in her throat.

“Good, then let’s do this.” Bonnie stood up and started getting everything ready. She called Freya and Davina back in and once the circle was done, the Mikaelson family stood in the middle of it. Ready to be sent to rescue the Saltzman’s.

“We’re coming for you Jo. I will rescue you,” Hope said, under her breath. Caroline heard it and smiled at the Tribrid.

“Sangiema Maem. Et Nos Mundo Carcerema. Sangiema Maem. Et Nos Mundo Carcerema,” Bonnie, Davina and Freya chanted the spell and within a flash, the Mikaelson’s were gone. All they had to do now was wait.

_In the Prison World_

“Oh isn’t that cute, you have a nickname for the one you didn’t meet. Maybe I’ll kill you first. You know you look like her. It’ll be like killing her all. Over. Again.”

Suddenly, a bright light flashed before the three’s eyes. And like they almost appeared there, the Mikaelson family stood.

“Hope?!” Josie called out.

“Jo!” Hope called back.

“Well, isn’t this cute. Looks like I get the pleasure of killing a lot more than my niece’s today,” Kai said as he readied a spell to fire off at the Original family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what did y'all think?!
> 
> I had a lot of fun writing this one, I just got inspired and typed away!
> 
> (Side note, I'm currently doing a TVD watch through with my friend who has never seen any of the show and she is HOOKED. Hardcore hooked. I can't wait for her to hit TO and Legacies!)
> 
> Comments and Kudos are appreciated as always :)
> 
> See you soon and stay safe!


	9. Too Soon to Let You Go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The resolution of what is happening in the Prison World

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy, here we go!
> 
> *I also tested positive for COVID, so I may be cranking out chapters a little bit faster because I got nothing else to do while I isolate and quarantine*

** Too Soon to Let You Go **

_What am I supposed to do without you?_

_Is it too late to pick the pieces up?_

_Too soon to let them go?_

“Incendia!” Kai shot off the fire spell, the Original family was able to vamp-speed out of the way, while Hope was able to shield herself with a barrier spell. “Impressive, but you aren’t the only ones who can do fun tricks.” Kai vamp sped towards the twins and grabbed Josie, bringing a knife to her throat.

“Jo!” Hope called out. If she didn’t do something, her girlfriend was going to be no more. Hope raised her hand and started to chant a spell when she was interrupted.

“Don’t you think about it little missy. One wrong move and your little girlfriend here gets it,” Kai brought the blade closer to Josie’s throat.

“Hope, it’s fine. Don’t worry about me. Just get rid of him,” Josie said.

“NO! I’m not doing that. I can’t lose you Jo,” Hope broke down. She couldn’t risk what Kai would do to her. She had to do nothing.

The rest of the Mikaelson family attempted to rush Kai but Hope called them off.

“No, we don’t want him hurting Josie,” Hope had a knot in her throat. This was too dangerous.

“Now that we are all in that agreement, I think we’ll be going now,” he put the knife down and started pulling Josie out of the room with him, leaving Lizzie and the Mikaelsons behind.

To say Hope was devastated was an understatement. She was inconsolable. Kai had one. He had Josie. Lizzie was right by her side while her relatives were pacing the room coming up with a plan.

“Lizzie, dear, where is your father?” Rebekah was the first to speak.

“Um, I don’t know Mrs. Mikaelson. He grabbed his crossbow and left before Kai even showed up. I think he might be looking for him?” Lizzie answered, both hands still holding Hope.

“Hmm, interesting. Marcel, honey, would you be a dear and go try to find Alaric. I feel like if Kol or myself went, he would shoot us on site with that blast crossbow of his,” Rebekah had a point. He kissed his wife and was gone with vamp speed, “Right. Now, we find Kai and Josie, pummel that little arse’s head in, and make sure we get out of here. Sound like a plan?” She had knelt down and was eye-level with Hope now, almost as if she was talking directly to her.

“I can try to find her. I just need to do it in Wolf form,” Hope stood up, ready to head out into the hall and wolf out.

“Hope, love,” it was Kol that spoke this time, “let’s save that as a last resort, yeah? Now, let’s get into teams and try to find them. Why don’t you go with Lizzie while Rebekah and I rip this mansion upside down? We meet back in this room in an hour, how does that sound?”

“Yeah, listen to your uncle, Hope. Wolfing out is dangerous, especially because we don’t know what will happen in here,” Lizzie was making sense.

“Okay, but before we leave, Lizzie; Siphon from me. You need all the magic you can get and I have plenty to go around,” Hope took the blonde’s hands in hers and watched as her hands glowed red. When Lizzie had siphoned enough, she pulled back.

“Holy shit Hope, that was intense. Wow, I never knew that you had THAT much magic,” Lizzie was coursing with magic for the first time ever.

“Yeah, kinda the perk of being the strongest Supernatural, ya know?” Hope chuckled.

“Right, now that Lizzie is all juiced up, let’s get moving. Remember, 1 hour,” Kol stressed the last words.

“1 hour. See you Uncle Kol,” Hope and Lizzie took off. Ready to find Josie. Ready to bring down Kai. Ready to get back home.

======================

Alaric was wondering around ghost town Mystic Falls with his crossbow cocked and ready. He hadn’t been this nervous in a while. He knew what was in here. He wasn’t proud of what he had done, but it was what he had to do. It’s what he needed to do to keep his daughters safe. To keep the world safe.

“Well, well, well what do we have here? Alaric Saltzman, figured I would find you soon enough. I’ve already find your daughters,” Ric knew this voice oh so well. It’s the one that haunted him in his dreams. His pseudo-brother in law; Kai Parker.

“Kai Parker. I was wondering when I would run into you around here,” as Ric turned around to face him, he saw his worst nightmare, “JOSIE! Let go of her!”

“Oh but where’s the fun in that Ric? You see, I killed her mom, who she’s named after, and then I kill her, and then I kill the other twin, and then I kill you. It’s really very simple,” Kai was toying with him. Trying to egg him on and aggravate him. And Ric was falling into the trap.

“Let. Her. Go. NOW!” Ric had went to pull the trigger on his crossbow when he saw Kai move Josie to use her as a human shield.

“Now, now, don’t be so hastey. Wouldn’t want Ms. Little Josette here to get a crossbow bolt through her heart, now would we?” Kai had a point. Ric couldn’t be too irrational. He had to think about Josie and her life.

And suddenly, Ric’s life flashed before his eyes. Out of nowhere, someone he never thought he would see again came up behind Kai and snapped his neck. The person grabbed Josie and brought her over to Ric.

“Alaric Saltzman, it’s been a while,”

“Marcel, what the HELL are you doing here?!”

======================

“Ugh, we’ve got NOTHING Lizzie. I say, we just go, find your crazy deranged uncle, and let me wolf out and beat the shit out of him!” Hope was frustrated. They had been walking around for about an hour now and were on their way back to the Salvatore Mansion.

“Hope, calm down. Everything is gonna be alright. Listen to me. We are gonna take him down. We will get her back. Just you see,” If you had asked Hope a year ago who the person that could calm her down from one of her spirals, it definitely would NOT be Lizzie Saltzman.

“Thanks Lizzie. I appreciate it. I just couldn’t live with myself if something happened to her,”

“Hope, don’t worry. Everything is going to be okay,”

“When did we switch roles here? Normally, I’m telling you everything will be okay and you are freaking out,” Hope chuckled and smirked towards the blonde twin.

“Yeah, well, love makes you do crazy things,” Lizzie smirked back. Hope started blushing heavily.

“Um, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Hope was flustered. She picked up her pace towards the mansion and was 100% trying to avoid talking about this.

Hope reached the mansion first and found it a complete train wreck. It was obvious her aunt and uncle were serious when they said ‘turn it upside down.’

“Ah, welcome back love. We have had no luck, any from you?” Uncle Kol was the first one to spot her.

“No, nothing yet. Hopefully Marcel found Dr. S and we can come up with another plan,” Hope responded.

“Hope. Andrea. Mikaelson. You cannot just LEAVE ME when my psychopath serial killer uncle is on the loose!” Lizzie was fuming, “plus, we need to talk about what is going on between you and my sister!”

“No, no we don’t Lizzie,” came a voice from the doorway.

“JOSIE!” the group ran to the brunette standing in the doorway.

Lizzie was the first to let go of her twin the second he dad came into view.

“Daddy?!” Lizzie engulfed her dad with a hug so tight that it started to suffocate him.

“Lizzie, honey, I’m glad you’re safe, but I think you’re crushing my lungs,” Ric looked down at his daughter and smiled. This was nice. It was something he missed.

“This is nice and all, and I hate to rain on the parade, but this guy is gonna wake up any minute,” Marcel came into view now, holding Kai’s lifeless body in his hands.

“Right, we do have to do something with that. Marcel, Rebekah, Kol; I know we haven’t always had the best of interactions, but I am forever indebted to you and your family for coming in here to rescue my girls and I. Hope; I think you already know what I’m going to say. But that can wait for later. You deserve as much thanks as your family does. Thank you,” He brought the tribrid into a hug similar to the one he gave her when his memories came back.

It wasn’t long until Kai was tied up and restrained. It was a simple restraint, but they had a backup plan for when he woke up.

“Well isn’t this nice? Everyone is all here and ready for me to. I love it when all my prey comes together,” He was awake now. He tried to move, but was tied to a chair, “Oh, you think this will keep me?” Kai quickly broke out of the restraints and made a move towards Ric when he was stopped by a magical barrier. “How funny, did you forget I was a Siphon witch first?” Kai threw his hand to the barrier and the magical barrier started to glow red around the spot where his hand was. Kai had thought he had the upper hand, but suddenly the glowing stopped.

“Did you forget that my aunt Freya is the oldest living witch on the planet right now? You think we would come into here without a plan to stop a Siphoner witch? You really underestimate us Kai,” Hope said, matter of factly.

“Oh, you think you’re good, you really do. I have to hand it to you I would be impressed. You think I could be contained? You are oh so wrong,” Kai started to demonstrate his power. In no time at all, he had magically brought down this barrier that was supposed to keep him in. “Do you think I wouldn’t have spent ALL the time I was trapped here honing and perfecting my magic? If your answer is yes, then you are incredibly mistaken.” Kai made a mad dash for the door and was gone before anyone could stop him.

“DAMNIT! We were so close, what happened?!” Alaric was furious, and rightfully so.

“I don’t know, he got stronger I guess,” Lizzie seemed very, nonchalant about all of this.

“Well, we need to find him!” Ric screamed.

“Dad, calm down. This is all a part of the plan,” Josie was the next to speak.

“What plan?! There’s a plan! Why was I not informed of this?” Alaric was angry…again.

“We can’t kill Uncle Kai in this world, we knew that,” Lizzie spoke.

“So, we told him about the Malivore pit, so that way he comes out in our world, we get out, and then we kill him when he inevitably comes to us at the school,” Josie finished.

Hope had to admit this was a good plan. She had to hand it to the Saltzman twins, it was a good plan and she was proud of Josie for being part of the team to come up with it.

“Um, there might be one problem with that plan…” Kol spoke, kind of startling everyone, “You see, Bonnie told us that since this world was built specifically for Kai, that if he leaves this world, it would collapse and crumble.”

Suddenly, the house started to shake violently and it started to fall apart.

“Um, what is happening?!” Hope was panicking.

Obviously, Kai had found the Malivore portal, but everyone had forgotten him.

“I have no idea,” Kol spoke out this time, “BUT we need to do the spell, and get out of here, now!”

“I know what to do and where to go. Follow me. Lizzie and Josie, I’ll need your help to do the spell,” Hope said, finally taking charge of the situation.

They wandered out into the field behind the mansion. Hope instructed all of them what they needed to do.

“When the spell fires off, each of you will have a portal open underneath you. Jump through the portal. It only will stay open for one of you. Once it opens, you have to go,” Hope started to do the spell when she was stopped.

“Not so fast, I know what you’re doing, and we are NOT letting you become the anchor,” Rebekah protested.

“Anchor? Hope what is she talking about?!” Josie questioned.

“When the person the prison world is meant for leaves, it needs a new anchor. Hope here was planning on becoming the anchor without telling any of us, was that the plan? Did I hit the nail on the head kiddo?” Marcel looked disappointed.

“Please, just let me do this! I’m not supposed to exist! This is my way of righting nature!” Hope was arguing back.

“And what about us and the rest of the family? Are we just supposed to let you do this? Disappear and stay here forever?!” Kol was livid that his niece would think about this act.

“And what about me Hope? What about us? What am I supposed to do, Hope? I _just_ got you back and now you’re just gonna leave again?” Josie had a crack in her voice; she was on the verge of tears.

“Jo, I’m so sorry. I know that we just got to where we finally wanted to be, but this is how it has to be. I’m sorry, please, forgive me and understand that this has to happen,” Hope was about to cry too.

“Now, can everyone just shut up!?” The room fell silent as Alaric spoke, “Is it possible to transfer the anchor once the spell is fired?”

“Yes, it is possible to transfer it. Why?” Attention had turned to the conversation between Hope and the Headmaster.

“Because, I’ll be the anchor. This is all my fault, I should have dealt with this long ago and I didn’t,” Alaric was getting emotional.

“Dad no, you can’t do this,” the twins had moved towards him and hugged him, “We already lost bio-mom, we can’t lose bio-dad too. This isn’t fair.”

“Lizzie, Josie, take care of each other. You’re both stronger than you let on. Rebekah, Kol, Marcel, thank you for everything. Please tell everyone back in the real world thank you as well,” everyone had started to cry one by one. Even though Alaric and the Original Family may not have seen eye-to-eye most of the time, he had been there and helped raise Hope after Klaus and Hayley died. He was as much of a family member of hers as they were, “Hope, oh Hope. You have become a strong young woman who is going to do wonders for the Supernatural world. Never lose sight of that. You are not a mistake, and don’t ever let anyone tell you that,” Hope had embraced her mentor in the tightest hug she ever has.

“Dr. S, I just want to say, Thank You. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for everything. And on behalf of the whole Salvatore student body, I think I can say we are all better because you came into our lives,” Hope had broken away and allowed her family to say goodbye.

“Alaric, please. Rethink this. Let me take the place. I’ve already talked about it with Rebekah and the rest of the family. We’ve been on this Earth for long enough,” Marcel put his hand on Ric’s shoulder.

“This is my mantle to take, my burden to bare. Please, don’t argue with me anymore. Just, take care of Hope. Be there for her, she will transition some day and just make sure she is safe. All of you thank you again for coming to rescue my daughters and me,” The Originals all placed a hand on Ric’s shoulder, showing their understanding. The twins had walked over at this point, holding each other.

“Daddy,” Lizzie was the first to latch onto Ric.

“Oh girls, I am so sorry I couldn’t be a better father to you. I am so proud of everything you two have accomplished, and everything you _will_ accomplish. I know that both of you will grow up and become fine and amazing women,” Ric had started full on crying by this point.

“Thank you dad, we love you. We’ll tell mom about everything. We will make you proud of us. We’re gonna get out of The Merge, don’t you worry,” Josie had kept a weird sense of composure, but definitely on par for her. She was always the strong one.

“Alright, now that the goodbyes are out of the way, let’s get you all out of here,” Ric had accepted everything and was ready to get them safe.

Hope had started chanting the spell while everyone formed a circle around her. A bright circle of light had appeared around Hope. The spell had started. The world had started to fall apart even more at this point. The spell took shape and the first portal to open was under Kol, he looked at everyone, “See you all on the other side,” and he hopped into his portal. Rebekah’s opened next, then Marcel, then Josie, then Lizzie. Last was Alaric, but he stepped forward into the circle towards Hope.

“Okay, what do I have to do?” he yelled out, moving closer.

“You touch me and become the anchor. Dr. S, you don’t have to do this. Just go through that portal and never look back,” Hope had started to tear up.

“Hope, when I opened the school I took a vow to protect all supernatural teenagers. Now, I’m not one to go back on my vows, what kind of father figure would I be?” Ric smirked at her. He reached out and touched her and felt the infusion of power.

“Thank you Dr. S, for everything. I’ll tell Caroline about everything for you,” Hope had shed a tear as she got up from her spot.

“There’s a note for you in my desk, Hope. Read it once you turn 18. Be safe, be good,” and with that, Hope had jumped into the portal.

============================

Everyone had slowly started appearing back in the Headmaster’s office at the school. One-by-one they had appeared, with their loved ones running to hug them as they came back.

When the twins came through, Caroline ran up to them so fast and embraced them in a hard hug. It was good to see her girls again.

There was a long pause in people coming back while they were waiting for Hope to appear. Josie had started to get worried when suddenly, the final flash of light had happened and there, crouching down in the middle of the room, was the aburnette.

“Hope?” Josie muttered.

“Jo, it’s me. I’m here. Don’t worry,” Hope had run up to her and embraced her so tight. Slowly, everyone else had come together as well and group hugged around the Tribrid.

“Wait, where’s Ric?” Bonnie had been the one to pose the question.

“I think everyone should sit down for this,” Hope was the one to say this. Everyone sat down around the room while Hope explained what happened in the prison world and Ric’s decision to stay behind as the anchor. As this explanation was happening, the Ascendant had broken down, showing that the Prison World had broken down and was no more.

Everyone just held each other as they cried and cried.

================================

Meanwhile, in the middle of the park in Mystic Falls, a figure appeared from the Malivore pit.

“Oh baby, it’s good to be back.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> May or may not have started crying during this one too. 
> 
> But, Ric is gone. What will happen to the school? Who will take over? How will Hope's choice in the prison world affect her new relationship with Josie?
> 
> When will Kai strike next?
> 
> Leave a comment and drop some kudos if you're enjoying this so far!
> 
> Check out the playlist!  
> https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6kTAfDr2heApn7BnWwP20N?si=2Nzi7v-qSX-KOEg9VWtMIg


	10. I Wanna Hold Hands With You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the memorial for Ric and something...happens

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This will probably wrap up here in the next few chapters, there's not much left to tell. There will be the actual big bad of the story rearing their ugly head soon. 
> 
> DON'T HATE ME!

_I wanna sleep next to you_  
But that's all I wanna do right now  
So come over now and talk me down

The whole school had gathered in the common room for Alaric’s memorial service. Even Damon and Elena came with their daughter Stefanie. Lizzie and Josie were happy to see their cousin again; they just wished it were under better circumstances. Mayor Donovan also made an appearance.

It was a lovely service, lots of people spoke; students, old friends, it was the proper send off for good old Alaric Saltzman. The last person to speak was someone no one had recognized before.

“Um, hello everyone. My name is Joshua. Ric and I are very old friends. It’s such a shame to watch him go. I, uh, wish I could have been there for him, or seen him one last time. The last time I saw him was at his wedding, I may have given him a terrible gift,” The man, who introduced himself as Joshua spoke.

The Super Squad, Mystic Falls Gang and the Original Family all sent looks around the room. Caroline leaned over to Elena and Damon.

“Um, everyone at Ric’s wedding died, who is this guy?” Caroline spoke in hushed tones.

“I have no idea, but I don’t have a good feeling about this. I’m gonna take Elena and Stefanie and get outta here, you got this blondie?” Damon whispered back. The man at the podium eyed the Salvatore family as they were walking out of the room. When Damon got to the doorway, he hit a barrier that prevented him from leaving.

“Oh, you’ll not want to miss this one Salvatores,” and with a snap of his fingers, half the student body was knocked out. Luckily, Josie had predicted something would happen and she put a protective spell over the Super Squad and the Original Family so they couldn’t be affected by magic. With the student body knocked out, the Super Squad had made a move.

“Who are you?” Caroline demanded. She was furious that someone would come and interrupt Ric’s memorial.

“Oh, it’s such a shame, none of you remember me. Maybe some _black magic_ will help you all see with a clear mind,” with that, he had cast a huge black magic spell that knocked out the remaining people.

After a while, Caroline was the first to wake up from the black magic knock out, “KAI!” The rest of the groups woke up shortly after, except there was someone missing; Josie.

Caroline went into panic mode. Hope and Lizzie were right there with her. The rest of the Mystic Falls Gang (Bonnie, Damon, Elena and Matt) was huddled off in a corner talking. They had dealt with Kai Parker enough to know how to deal with him.

“Alright Blondie, tiny Blondie, and baby mix 3 here’s the plan. It’s obvious that Kai wants to finish off the rest of the Gemini babies so that he doesn’t lose his power or whatever when the munchkins turn 22 and merge. So, we just finally have to kill the guy. Plain and simple. We have a school of Supernatural Hormonal teenagers, the world’s oldest Witch, and the Original Family. This is gonna simple as can be,” Damon was back to assuming his same old demeanor.

“But Uncle Damon, he’s stronger now. He was able to take down the strongest barrier spell we could do like it was nothing. How do you suppose we defeat him?” Lizzie was very skeptical of her uncle’s plan.

“Simple, one of you Originals run up, snap his neck, then we chain him up and rip his heart out. It really should have been done in the first place,” Damon spoke matter of factly and nobody seemed to argue. They all started brainstorming a plan together.

=========

Josie woke up with a start and gasped for air. This was the same black magic purge spell she had used to regain all of the students memories of Hope. Except when she woke up this time, she felt different. Everything hurt and even a pin drop was too loud for her.

“Looks who is awake, I was getting worried there for a second you weren’t going to wake up. But I guess that problem is over now,” Josie realized what had happened. Her Uncle Kai had jumped into the Malivore pit in the prison world, causing everyone to forget him. It was a genius plan and Josie honestly didn’t think that the Malivore pit in the other dimension would cause them to forget their memories. But alas, here we are.

“What did you do to me?” She started to feel hungry. So hungry. She couldn’t control it.

“Oh little niece it’s simple, you and your sister wanted a way out of the Merge, and I gave it to you, now you don’t have to go through with it at all. But then again, you wouldn’t have to anyway because I’m gonna end the both of you before then. This was just fun for me. Think of what your precious little daddy would think now. His daughter that he loved more than anything. He loved you so much that he named you after my sister. And now you’re an abomination. Just. Like. Me.” The pieces started to connect together for Josie. The cravings, the sensitivity, the heightened emotions. He turned her into a Heretic. Her worst nightmare had come true. Sure, her and Lizzie had talked about this being a possibility, but it was a last resort. Josie tried to look around, it looked like they were in the transition cells. She hoped that someone would find her soon, or else she wouldn’t survive through the night.

=====

The plan had been set, they were going to find Kai Parker and make him pay for what he did. Hope was particularly ready to make him pay. First, he threatened to harm Josie, and then it was because of him that Alaric was no longer with them. And now he had kidnapped her and is currently doing God knows what to her. She was ready to do whatever it takes to get Josie back.

After searching all over the school, they only had one place left to check, the werewolf transition cellars. They had to be there. Marcel was ready to do the deed of snapping his neck. He just needed the door blown open first.

With a quick flick of her wrist, Hope had blown the doors to the cells off of their hinges. Marcel quickly was able to find which cell had heartbeats in it and vamp sped in there ready to snap Kai’s neck, but what he found was a sight that he didn’t expect to see. He saw Josie tied to a chair, obviously in pain.

“Josie. What’s going on? Where’s Kai?” Marcel was taken aback by this.

“UGH DON’T BE SO LOUD. WHY IS EVERYTHING SO LOUD?” Josie screamed. The yelling was so loud that it caused Hope to go into survival mode and rush in there.

“Josie? What’s going on Marcel?” Hope was starting to panic.

“Hope, I need you to get outta here. Go back outside. I haven’t found Kai yet and he could be here,” Marcel had a sound of worry in his voice.

“Oh, you may not have found me, but I found you. And it looks like I have you and the little tribrid _right_ where I want you,” Kai appeared from out of nowhere and went to snap Marcel’s neck but Hope was faster. She casted a spell that caused Kai to writhe in pain on the ground. Enough time was bought to allow Marcel to speed over and snap his neck, killing him, albeit temporarily. They had swapped places between Kai and Josie and called in the rest of the group. Lizzie and Caroline were holding Josie as she just kept writhing in pain. Caroline flashed a glance to Marcel, and they both knew it all too well what was happening to Josie.

Hope was the one to walk up to Kai. She wanted to do the honors. “So, do we wait for him to wake up, or do I just do it now?”

“I think we should do it now, get it over with. Don’t give him a chance to wake back up,” Damon chimed in, “He shouldn’t get the chance to try and mess with our brains like he always does.”

Hope rolled up her sleeve and went straight for it. She ripped out Kai’s heart and had it sitting in her hand. She dropped it to the floor, satisfied with herself.

“Hm, well look at you, you’ll make a great vampire yet,” Damon was impressed. He got death stares from everyone else in the room, “Alright, everyone get out of here. I’ll take care of the body. Hey Donovan, Blondie, wanna give me a hand? For old times sake?”

“I would love nothing more Damon. Girls, go with Aunt Elena and Bonnie. We will be right up,” Caroline gave each of her daughters a kiss on the forehead and she started to take care of the body with her two friends.

The rest of the group had made it upstairs, as the student body had started to wake up. Freya had gotten up to address the student body on what had happened.

“Just now, an intruder had gotten into the school. He knocked you all out and kidnapped one of our own. Don’t anyone worry, the threat has been neutralized and you are all safe now,” the eldest Mikaelson kind of felt, empowered standing up there in front of the student body. Caroline had cancelled classes for the rest of the day, so that left the student body to mourn their former headmaster in their own individual way. It also left the group to figure out what was going on with Josie. Bonnie and Elena had taken her to the infirmary and spelled it so no one could come in without permission. The only people allowed in were Caroline, Damon and the Mikaelson vampires. Hope and Lizzie were losing their minds standing outside.

“I just wanna know what’s going in there!” Hope had just punched a wall; it left a decent dent that she would take care of fixing later.

“Hope, just calm down. I’m sure they will come out soon enough and tell us what is going on with my sister,” Lizzie was definitely acting out of character.

“You’re unusually calm for someone whose twin is in there and not getting information,” Hope was calling the bluff.

“Well, maybe I have turned over a new leaf,” Lizzie was trying to lead Hope off the trail. Deep down, Lizzie already knew. She felt it the second it happened. Josie died and was brought back as a vampire.

“You know something, don’t you? Tell me.” Hope demanded.

“Hope, it’s better if you don’t know, trust me,” Lizzie was getting flustered.

“Why Lizzie?! Why shouldn’t I know?” Hope was yelling now.

“Because I’m a vampire now…” Josie had come out of the room. Everyone went silent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DON'T HATE ME!  
> But I think we all saw this coming
> 
> Kudos and comments are welcome!
> 
> Thank you to all the Kudos and comments so far! I appreciate them all :)


	11. You Found Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The secret is out. How will everyone react?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DON'T HATE ME :)   
> I just want Hosie endgame like the rest of you.
> 
> We are nearing the end now, only a few more chapters. The big bad is revealed, kinda, in this chapter.

** You Found Me **

_Lost and Insecure_

_You Found Me, You Found Me_

_Lying on the Floor,_

_Surrounded, Surrounded_

“Because I’m a vampire now…” Josie had come out of the room. Everyone went silent.

“You’re WHAT?!” Hope was obviously upset by this revelation of news, “And you KNEW and you didn’t say anything?! What the FUCK Lizzie?!”

“Baby, please calm down. It’s fine, I’m fine. See? I’m here, and now I’m not going anywhere. And look at it this way, it gets us out of The Merge,” Hope could not believe what she was hearing right now.

“I can’t believe this! How did it even happen?!” Hope had been holding her temples in frustration.

“Everyone, I think we should take this into the office,” Caroline had came out to usher the girls into her office. When Hope walked inside, she saw her whole family in there, along with the Mystic Falls squad. They were probably all talking to Josie about the transition period and what would happen if she didn’t feed in time.

“So, is anyone gonna tell me what actually happened?” Hope was standing in the room with her arms crossed.

“Kai did the one thing he knew would have Alaric rolling over in his grave. He turned Josie into a Heretic, just like him,” Caroline had explained, with her arms around Lizzie.

“You all are WAY too calm about this, why aren’t more of you freaking out?” Hope was still confused as to why no one else was as angry as her.

“The damage is done Hope, there’s no turning back. I’ve already fed and completed the transition. It’s over,”

“But it WON’T be over Jo, you’ll go through the hunger, the heightened emotions, _everything_ ,” Hope had tried to explain.

“And that’s why we are pulling her out of classes for the next few weeks. She will work with me, with us, on everything that comes with being a Vampire. Everything will be fine, you’ll see Hope,” Caroline had moved over to the auburnette now. The blonde headmistress had gestured to the Original family and the Mystic Falls gang when she referred to ‘us.’

“But you all have other parts of your lives. Caroline, you have all the recruiting missions to do. Something will happen that will pull all of you away and then Josie will be stuck here, halfway through her training and it will be a disaster,” Hope had fought back.

“Do you really think so little of me Hope? So little of my will and self-reliance? I can’t deal with this anymore. I have to get out of here,” Josie was gone in the blink of an eye. She had learned the Vamp Speed very quickly.

“Honey wait!” Caroline had gone to speed out there when a hand stopped her.

“Caroline, let me go. This is entirely my fault. I’ll find her and bring her back,” Hope had stopped the Headmistress from running out and sprinted after the brunette herself. Everyone in the room just kind of stared blankly at what just happened.

“Well, now that she’s gone, let’s talk about some things. Mainly, what the deal with Josie’s training schedule is gonna be. Also more importantly; what are you gonna do about the Headmaster job?” Freya seemed to be oddly intrigued as to what was going to happen.

==========

Hope had been running around like a mad woman. She needed to find Josie. She needed to apologize and make sure she was safe. No. Just apologize. Josie _could_ hold her own. It took a bit, but Hope was able to tap into her wolf senses and smell the girl. Even though she had transitioned, her scent had stayed the same. _Vanilla._

Following Josie’s scent had brought her to where they first confessed their feelings for each other; _The Old Mill._

“Jo?” Hope called out. There was no response, “Jo, please. If you’re here, say something. Everyone is worried about you. _I’m_ worried about you.”

“Is it because you don’t think I’m strong enough to be out on my own?” Josie had called out. Hope tried to find the girl but still couldn’t see where she was, “You know what, don’t answer that. Don’t come in here.”

Hope tried to walk through the front door but was stopped. “You spelled it didn’t you? Didn’t want anyone coming in to find you.”

“I didn’t want _you_ coming in here. You hurt me Hope. Here I thought you believed in me, I thought you unconditionally loved me. No matter what happened that you would be there and be supportive. And here we are, you making assumptions that I’m just a helpless child. So, just go away; I don’t wanna see you right now,” Hope could tell Josie was upset, but she also wanted to be there for the girl.

“I’m not leaving, I may not be able to come inside, but I will stay out here all night if I have to. I’m not leaving you here Jo. If you’ll just let me explain, please?” Hope had slumped down on the front porch. She thought back to the last time she was here. The night was similar, not a cloud in the sky. It was when her and Josie finally confessed their feelings for each other. They had kissed and it had been **fireworks** and now, the brunette didn’t even wanna talk to the tribrid.

Hope felt eyes staring at her. She turned around and found Josie staring at her. “You get **5** minutes. No more, got it? After that I’m going back up to the second floor,” Josie was angry, it was obvious.

“Jo, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to make you feel helpless. On the contrary, you’re the strongest person I know. You kept your calm in the prison world, you didn’t even freak out about the transition. You kept it together the whole time. You’ve even done stupid powerful black magic spells and didn’t even flinch about it. You’re the strongest witch I’ve ever met, just don’t tell Aunt Freya,” at this comment Josie chuckled. There it is; that smile that made Hope melt.

“Then why would you say those things? Why were you freaking out?” Josie asked.

“Because I care about you Jo. When I came into the prison world and saw you held hostage by your crazy lunatic uncle, I was panicking on the inside. When we woke up at the memorial and you weren’t there, I was close to losing it. I was so scared that I would lose you. And now, you were turned against your will. You’re gonna live forever. And I won’t. Sure, I’ll turn at some point, but it won’t be for a _long_ time if I can help it. I can’t bare the thought of you leaving me because I turn old and you’re still in this beautiful body. I also couldn’t bear to think about the pain you’re gonna go through. I’ve seen what happens to newly transitioned Vamps. I didn’t want you to go through that; not now, not ever,” Hope was shaking now.

“And why not Hope? Why are you _so_ scared?” Josie was baiting her. She wanted to confirm her thoughts.

“Because Jo, _I love you_ ,” there it was. Hope Mikaelson; laying her heart on the line again.

“I thought you would never admit it,” Josie smiled and dropped the magical barrier, “I love you too you idiot.”

The taller girl pulled Hope into a hug, it lasted a while. When they separated, the shorter girl couldn’t help but stare at Josie’s lips. She moved closer and closer, eliminating the gap between them. With a soft touch, she sealed the opening and pressed her lips into the other girl’s.

When they finally broke the kiss it was well into the night. Almost morning time to be precise.

“The sun will be rising soon. Let’s get you back to get you a daylight ring. I don’t want my girlfriend burning up before my eyes,” Hope had realized what she said too late.

“Did you just call me your _girlfriend_?” Josie quizzically asked.

“I mean, um, I-uh, shit,” Hope had started to spiral. Now the girl was going to leave and avoid her.

“Hey, hey, calm down. Hope, it’s me. I’m here. Relax. Hope Andrea Mikaelson, I would love to be your girlfriend, but on one condition,” Josie had grabbed the girls face with both of her hands.

“What’s that?” Hope had nervously asked, a hiccup in her voice.

“That you are my girlfriend too,” Josie had smiled and chuckled after this. Hope was already melting.

“YES! Erm, I mean, of course. I would love to be your girlfriend Josette Lucas Saltzman,” The two girls walked back towards the school, hand in hand, smiles stretching across their faces.

They got back just before sunrise. They say Caroline and Freya waiting at the front of the school for them. Caroline ran up to Josie and quickly slid a ring onto her finger. It was the same standard issue ring that all the female vampires got at the school. Hope made a mental note to grab the ring later to get a ring size.

Freya eyed the two girls as they came up, obviously seeing them walking up holding hands. She raised an eyebrow in Hope’s direction. The young Mikaelson had made some movements with her head letting her aunt know that she would spill the beans later.

Back in the headmaster’s office, it was just Hope, the twins, Caroline and Freya. “Now, we have something we want to talk to all of you about,” Freya was the first to speak.

“Josie and I are dating!” Hope blurted it out nervously. The two older women in the room just looked at each other and burst out into laughter. Freya reached into her pocket and pulled out a crisp $20 bill, handing it to Caroline.

“Man, if only my brother were here to see this. He would have a good laugh. Your daughter and his daughter, dating.” Caroline laughed at this comment too.

“What can we say, Mikaelsons are destined to go after Forbes’ I guess,” Caroline smirked at this.

“You have GOT to be kidding me?! UGH! What did I say Hope? You two are NEVER going to happen!” Lizzie outburst.

“Well Lizzie, I guess you were wrong. We’re happening,” Josie took Hope’s hand in hers and held it up, kissing it for the whole room to see.

“Now that the fun is over, let’s chat about what we really called you in here for,” Freya had brought the tone back to a serious discussion, “Josie, we are glad you are safe and okay. But this transition isn’t going to be easy. Your daily schedule is going to be altered a little bit. For now though, you’re going to be pulled out of your classes. You’ll spend mornings with your mother and Marcel. They’ll teach you all about the Vampire side of you. How to control the bloodlust, how to curb your appetite, how to use your newfound powers.” The brunette had nodded in agreement.

“Then your afternoons will be spent with Hope’s Aunt Freya and Uncle Kol. They will teach you about how to control the newfound supply of magic you have. They will also teach you some _minor_ offensive magic spells. As a Heretic, there are going to be people who are going to want you gone. They’ll call you an abomination and the like. You need to be able to defend yourself,” Caroline had explained this part. She had a hiccup in her voice, showing her worry for her daughter.

“So, why are we here?” Lizzie had perked up.

“That’s the next thing. When Josie returns to her regularly scheduled classes in a few weeks time, the other students are not going to be nice about what has happened. You two are to escort her from class to class. Caroline will inform all of your teachers to let you out a few minutes early to go pickup Josie,” Freya and Caroline had come up with a full plan for everything. It all seemed to fall into place.

=========

The first few days of training had been rough. Josie was not in top physical form before and the trainings with Marcel had really kicked her ass. Not to mention she was studying twice as hard because on top of her regular assignments, that she still had to keep up with, she had added homework from Freya and Kol.

“Ugh, all of this extra work is INSANE,” Josie flopped onto Hope’s bed, exhausted after her second week of her new schedule had wrapped up. Hope had to admit, she felt bad for her girlfriend but she couldn’t help but laugh.

“Jo, just think, maybe now you’ll be as smart and powerful as me. And I haven’t even activated my vampire side yet,” Hope joked and curled up next to the brunette. Josie punched her in the arm at the joke.

“It is NOT funny. Between my lessons with Marcel on fighting, lessons with my mom on how to be a Vamp, and then lessons with your aunt and uncle; I barely have time for my regular schoolwork. I don’t know how I’m going to do it for two more weeks,” Josie huffed. Hope held her close and brushed her hair with her hand.

“Baby, it’ll be fine. You’ll come out better on the other side, trust me. It’s only for a few more weeks and then you and I can train together,” Hope had been staring at the brunette. She looked different, but also the same. Like she had a new sense of confidence. Josie had turned to stare back at the auburnette. Their loving gaze was interrupted by a knock on Hope’s door. “Come in!” with a flick of her wrist, Hope had opened the door. Standing there was _not_ who the two girls were expecting.

“Hey Hope, oh I’m sorry I didn’t know you would have company,” both the girls shot up at the voice.

“Hey Landon, can I help you?” Hope was obviously still irritated towards the mop headed boy.

“Yeah, actually. Josie, it’s so good to see you, I’m so sorry about your dad. He was like a mentor to me and no one could ever replace him. I’m just happy you’re back, but do you mind if I talk to Hope, alone?” the Muppet baby looked hurt. Josie could feel the pain.

“Only if she is okay with it, and even then, I’ll be standing right outside the door,” Josie replied.

“That’s fine with me if it’s fine with Hope, I just really needed to talk to her,” Landon seemed desperate at this point. Josie assumed it was part of his plan to try and win Hope back.

“You have 5-minutes. You’re lucky I feel bad about blowing up at you before. Jo, please keep an ear listening,” Hope had given that longing stare to her girlfriend as she walked out of the room and closed the door behind her.

“Your 5-minutes starts now,” Hope had said, looking down at her wrist that clearly didn’t have a watch on it.

“So, you and Josie, huh? That’s good. I’m uh, glad you two found each other,” Landon was nervous; it was obvious. “Um, so listen. About us,”

“Us is over Landon. You made that _very_ clear the night you left and left us a NOTE,” Hope had risen from her bed.

“I know, I messed up. But please Hope, I love you. I always will. Let me make it up to you, _please._ I thought we were happy together,” Landon was practically begging now.

“You might have been happy but I wasn’t. I thought I was, but I know what happiness in a relationship is now. I was just complacent in our relationship. You were easy,” Hope had quieted her tone, not wanting to alert her girlfriend to any trouble.

“I was happy. I loved you Hope. I wanted to do everything for you. I cared so much about you. When I left, it tore me up inside, but then I met someone and they told me to come back here. I realized I still love you,” at this point Hope had turned her back on Landon, not wanting to show him the tears that were starting to pool in the corners of her eyes. “I loved you Hope, more than anything in the world,” she could feel him moving closer to her. She let it happen. “And that’s why I’m sorry I have to do this.” Suddenly, Hope felt a sharp piercing in her neck and then the world went black.

Josie had been waiting outside for more than 5-minutes at this point, but she figured Hope caved and let Landon have more than the allotted time. Then something clicked, she couldn’t hear anything in there. Sure, her Vamp hearing wasn’t _quite_ that developed yet, but she should still be able to hear footsteps, murmurings, even if they were whispers, Josie should be able to hear it. She went and tried to open the door, but failed. It was sealed, _magically_.

“Shit!” she held her hand to the door and siphoned away the spell. The door blew open and the room was empty. The window being wide open, “SHIT!” Josie ran out of the room and down the hallway, all the way to Caroline’s office.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There it is! 
> 
> I think y'all saw this coming? Idk. Maybe you did, maybe you didn't.
> 
> As always, comments and kudos are appreciated. 
> 
> Thank you to everyone who has left a comment so far! And who have left Kudos! I love seeing the stats on this fic.
> 
> Here's the playlist link as always :)  
> https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6kTAfDr2heApn7BnWwP20N?si=HLDN8MbAT_ytwD1PyH9QKg


	12. I Met A Superhero

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's an all out chaos brawl when the team goes after Hope. What will happen?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I FINALLY FINISHED WRITING THIS OUT.
> 
> Few edits to make and proof-reading, but this will all-in-all be 14 chapters including an Epilogue, so we are towards the end!
> 
> I have a few other AU ideas, but I am having some trouble getting them on paper.
> 
> Without any further ado, here's Chapter 12

** I Met A Superhero **

****

_When the friends you had don’t call your name_ _  
When the rocks you leaned on, give way  
I’m here  
I’m here_

“Okay, so we need to track down the mop head, kill him for good and then we get Hope back. That shouldn’t be that hard, he’s literally useless and a weakling,” Lizzie was seriously laying into this.

“He’s definitely not working alone, Landon would never do this without help, or being forced to. He worshipped the ground Hope walked on,” Josie was pacing around the room.

“Landon didn’t do it! He’s gotta be in trouble too. He’s my brother, I know him,” Rafael stood up, protesting what the Saltzman twins were saying.

“Raf, chill. Landon has been through a lot this year, AND you were gone from him for how long? Something could have happened. Malivore could have gotten to him,” MG was there, trying to diffuse the situation that was at risk of escalating.

“Regardless, we have to find them first. Then we can get out answers. Then we bring them home. We’re the Super Squad, we can do anything,” Kaleb was also there. The whole squad was back in action, and they were ready to bring their fearless leader home.

Rafael and Jed took to the woods, trying to sniff Hope and Landon out. While this was happening, the twins were doing the advanced locator spell. The boys came back inside after 30 minutes of no results.

“Any luck out there?” MG got up and asked right as the two wolves came back in.

“Nothing, not even a whiff,” Jed answered; he seemed disheartened by his lack of results.

“Nothing here either. They must be cloaked or something. This isn’t good, whoever took Hope is working with a powerful witch,” Lizzie explained.

“So, what do we do?” Jed was new at this whole ‘Super Squad’ thing and didn’t _really_ know what came next.

“God where is Hope Mikaelson when you need her?!” Lizzie exclaimed. This was true; Hope had always come up with a plan. She had a plan for everything.

====

“Ugh, where am I?” Hope was waking up now. She didn’t know where she was or what happened. The last she remembered, she was in her room, talking to Landon. Landon. This was definitely his doing. Probably some attempt to win her back; she definitely was not going back to him after this stunt.

She tried to stand-up and was meant with restraint. She was tied up, and it hurt to move. Probably ropes soaked in Wolfsbane. Of-fucking-course.

“Well, I see you are awake Ms. Mikaelson,” that voice. Hope knew that voice. It’s the only voice she heard for 6-months.

“Ryan Clarke. I see daddy finally let you out of your room,” Hope teased.

“He did, under one condition, that I bring him _you_. You see, Malivore didn’t want to let you out, but he needed to. But now, he is ready for you. He’s ready to bring you down, him and his army of monsters will rule the world. And we, we will be right by his side,” Ryan was definitely doing the villain monologue.

“ _We?_ Who is we?” Hope was praying her fears weren’t going to come true.

“Hey Hope,” There he was. Landon.

“You see, my dear brother had his heart crushed by you, and he ran away. That’s when we found him. We took him in, took care of him in his time of need. Showed him what _family_ means. And now, it’s like the band is back together! We’re gonna get rid of you, then we’re going to take over the world!” There he goes. Clarke was doing his evil villain monologue again.

“So, since you’re going to kill me, why don’t you tell me your grand scheme? Gloat in my face why don’t you? Tell me all about your grand plan while I’m defenseless and dead,” Hope was trying to bait them. Ryan wasn’t falling for it, but of course Landon did.

“See, it’s simple, really. We’re gonna make me the host of Malivore. Then, I’ll kill you, and when you come back as a vampire we’ll rip your heart out. Then we will take over the world with an army of monsters. An army so great that the rest of the school won’t know what to do and will be overwhelmed and forced to surrender,” Landon word vomited the whole plan out. Too easy.

“Idiot brother! Why would you tell her?” Ryan was furious.

“Because, it’s not like she can break out of that restraint. And her magic is nullified while she’s here. And even when she turns, she will still be tied down because they’re also laced with vervain. We have her here. She can’t escape. Why not give her one last request before she dies forever?” Landon seemed…sorry for what was about to happen.

Before Hope knew what was coming next, Landon was readying himself for the jump.

The jump that Hope had taken all that time ago.

The jump into Malivore.

==========

“Hey Aunt Freya, we have a bit of a question for you…” Josie and Lizzie had walked into their mom’s office. Her and the Blonde Mikaelson witch were bent over books, trying to figure out the best way to find Hope.

“What is it sweethearts?” Freya’s head snapped up from the book she was reading.

“Um, last year sometime, Hope and I may have done a black magic locator spell to find Landon when he took the knife. It allowed us to see exactly where Landon was and it’s how we found the bus fire. She said that you taught it to her, could you teach it to Lizzie and I and maybe then we could find her?” Josie was nervous asking this question, especially with her mom there.

Freya looked at Caroline, and then back to the twins. “Yeah, I think I can do that. It’ll be heavy on you magically, but go and grab these ingredients and come back here,” Freya jotted down some supplies on a piece of paper and held it out.

“I’ll go get them! I think you all should talk…” Lizzie grabbed the paper and darted out so fast, some might say she had vamp speed.

“Josie, are you sure you want to do this? I can do it with one of the other witches from my family,” Freya seemed concerned for the young Heretic’s safety.

“Yeah, I’m sure. I wanna find Hope. I want to get her back here safely,” Josie was quivering now. Definitely nervous and upset.

“Okay, well help me set up the circle, and then we will get started when Lizzie gets back,” Freya started placing everything they needed around the room. Caroline was enjoying watching her daughter work with another skilled witch. Freya seemed like she was good at teaching and mentoring kids. The headmistress made a mental note of this. She did need to find a replacement for Alaric after all.

Lizzie came back in little time and had all the ingredients Freya had asked for. Lizzie had siphoned from her mom and Freya had laid out spell paper. Josie broke the neck of the rat and dripped the blood. Then, the three witched joined hands and recited the spell.

“I don’t see anything yet,” Lizzie was squinting with her eyes closed.

“Come on, give me something,” Josie had uttered.

“Wait, I see something,” Freya spoke now.

A warehouse had flashed before the girls eyes.

“I see it too. It looks like…a warehouse!” Lizzie exclaimed.

Another scene flashed before their eyes.

“I see Hope! She’s in a chair? And I see…Landon? And that creepy guy from the mummy encounter,” Josie spoke.

“It looks like Landon is about to…” Lizzie was cut off

“Jump into the Malivore portal!” Freya blurted out. Then the girls came out from their locator spell, “A warehouse? Do either of you know where that warehouse might be?”

“I do. It’s in Georgia. Alaric told me about it. It’s where him, Hope and Landon woke up one day after meeting Landon’s mom. It’s also where we picked up Landon from after Hope went into the pit,” Caroline was already dialing her phone as she was walking out the door, albeit for a plane and some cars to get them there faster.

Within minutes all of the Mikaelson family and the Super Squad were on their way to Fort Valley, Georgia. Josie spent the time on the plane talking Freya about what spells could be used in case of emergency. Freya taught her a bit, but it wasn’t long until Caroline came around and gave the blonde Mikaelson a motherly glare.

The plane touched down in Georgia and they had arrived at Triad Industries to see a sight they never thought they would see. Every monster they had defeated before was back now, and they were walking towards them!

Lizzie and Josie had cloaked themselves invisibly and were sneaking around the monster attack. Chaos ensued as they watched the rest of the Super Squad team up with the Mikaelsons to take down all of the Malivore Monsters. MG and Marcel were taking on The Necromancer and the Shunka while Rebekah teamed up with Jed and Rafael to take down the Headless Horseman, Mummy and Arachne. Kaleb and Kol had gone after the Cyclops while Freya, Davina and Caroline had their hands full with Pothos, the Mer-Man and the Dragon. It was a battle of all battles.

While Josie and Lizzie found the proper way to sneak inside, they had a bit of trouble finding their way. Eventually, they were able to get through everything and make their way to the innermost room of the building.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t the Saltzman twins. I’m glad you could be here for the final moments,” The two of them would recognize that voice anywhere. They dropped their spell and came face to face with the true evil behind all of this; Landon Kirby.

“Muppet, why don’t you just give us Hope back and make your way back to Treasure Island? I think that’s best for both of us,” Lizzie snarkily remarked as she turned around. What she saw, was NOT what she was expecting.

Landon had changed. His appearance and demeanor had gotten more, intense. More confident. He looked like some mix of his former self and Malivore. His physical poise had retained, but now there were patches of skin that were replaced by the Malivore goo. He snapped his fingers and his right arm caught on fire, “I guess this is what happens when a Phoenix merges with the all powerful Malivore, ya know?”

“Where is she?” Josie had a bit of grit in her voice, “What do you do with her?”

“Oh she’s fine. She’s right here,” Landon spun around the chair beside him and there was the auburnette. She looked, lifeless. Josie listened for a heartbeat, but couldn’t hear one.

“What did you do to her?! You monster!” Josie had lashed out.

“Oh, it’s what everyone has always wanted. I killed her. She will turn into her Tribrid self. And then I will rip her heart out. It’s all very simple,” Landon sounded…emotionless, like he had lost all of his feelings.

“Like HELL you will,” Josie had started to prepare a spell when she saw a movement. Hope was awake! She gasped for air, “HOPE! It’s okay. We’re gonna get you out of here. Don’t you worry.”

“Ah, you’re awake. How nice. Twins, it’s been a while,” a voice came from behind the twins.

“Hello Agent Clarke, so not nice to see you again,” Lizzie spat.

“You always were the feisty one, weren’t you?” Ryan Clarke seemed to carry himself higher and more poised than MaliLandon was.

“ _Phasmatos navaro pulsus sanguinox!_ ” Josie uttered a spell towards Clarke that caused him to burn. It seemed like he was burning from the inside out.

“What did you do to me?!” Clarke was freaking out, trying to stop the pain.

“Blood to acid spell, simple really. Now, let Hope go and we will be on our way,” Josie turned to MaliLandon now.

“I can’t do that Josie. How could you want to save her? It’s her fault we are all in this in the first place,” MaliLandon tried to reason.

“Why? Because she didn’t love you back? Because she broke up with you? News flash mud boy; not everything revolves around you. Lizzie, protect me,” the blonde Saltzman nodded towards her twin as she siphoned off of her. “ _Le specto tre colo ves bestia!_ ” Suddenly, MaliLandon was lifted off the ground.

“Josie, what are you doing to me? It feels like my heart is about to burst out of my chest. Please stop!” MaliLandon had begged, it sounded like he actually had remorse in his voice this time. Josie faltered for a second and that’s when MaliLandon took his chance, he sent a pulse of fire towards the brunette which caused her to lose focus and drop the spell.

“Jo! Are you okay?” This was the first time Hope spoke since she had came back from the dead. The chains used to tie her up were hurting even more now, it meant she had activated her vampire side and was being affected by the vervain. “ _Fractos_ ,” she whispered under her breath.

Just like that, the chains had dropped and broken from Hope’s wrists. Hope had taken the element of surprise to use her newly activated Tribrid powers to pin Landon to the wall beside them.

“You think this is _my_ fault?! Everything I ever did was to protect _you_ ; to protect EVERYONE. But I guess you couldn’t see that because you were just selfish. You said I broke your heart Landon, well now I’m gonna rip it out right in front of you,” Hope had stabbed her hand into MaliLandon’s chest and ripped out the still beating heart. It didn’t look like a normal heart, it was infused with Malivore goo and magic. It burned Hope to the touch. She dropped it, and Landon immediately, watching them both dissolve into Malivore goo.

“Hope!” Josie called out and ran over. The brunette engulfed the Tribrid in a hug so tight, Hope was getting suffocated. Josie didn’t care though, she had Hope back. That’s all that mattered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks y'all for sticking through this with me!
> 
> I know it might not be the best writing or the best story, but all of your kudos and comments mean so much and actually help me to keep writing!
> 
> Only 1 more regular chapter left! Let's see where it goes!
> 
> Playlist Link Below :)  
> https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6kTAfDr2heApn7BnWwP20N?si=909uUvC1QhmjEAlBm2mg-A


	13. Give Me Love Like Her

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AHH! Second to last chapter!
> 
> Resolve of the monster fight, and the wrap-up of everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last main chapter of the story incoming!!
> 
> AHHHH!
> 
> Thank you for all the comments and kudos left so far! I love reading everyone of them and get excited when I get a notification that something has been left!

** Give Me Love Like Her **

_Give me love like her_

_‘Cause lately I’ve been waking up alone_

_Paint splattered teardrops on my shirt_

Lizzie eventually joined in on the hug, after making sure the Clarke was done for. The three girls had their triangle hug just like old times. As they made their way outside, most of the monsters had been taken down, but their friends and family looked battered and worn. The only creature left was the Dragon.

“Great, we really had to come full circle here didn’t we?” Hope knew what to do, since the Dragon was the first creature defeated when all this monster business started. Hope made a swift motion and had pulled one of the pikes off the gates to the building. She used magic to hurl it through the air, perfectly at the Dragon’s soft spot. Just like before. The dragon crippled and shifted back to her human form.

“Now that all of that is done, how about we take them all and huck them back into Malivore?” Hope proposed, the rest of the group stood there, in aw at the teenager. Her family piled into her for a hug, followed by the rest of the people present, “While I love and missed all of you, let’s save the reunion for the ride home, yeah?”

One by one, all of the creatures had been tossed back into the MaliLandon portal. Once the last expulsion, Ryan Clarke, had been tossed back in, the portal shriveled up and closed. Almost as if it was Landon trying to make everything right with the world, and the girl he had messed things up with so many times before. Rafael took the longest to say goodbye. He definitely took it the hardest. Fortunately, Jed, MG and Kaleb were there to grieve with him.

The plane ride back was very eventful; everyone was talking about how Hope needed to feed in order to complete the transition to a Vampire.

“I don’t think that needs to happen. Look at my mom, look at Henry, they didn’t feed on people when they turned into Hybrids. I think it’s the same with me. I don’t have any of the normal issues baby vampires do,” Hope was trying to get everyone to calm down and let her explain, “Also, thank you all. You risked yourselves coming to save me from my crazy ex-boyfriend. I love you all and it really helps me to see that I’ll never be alone. From my blood family,” she looked at the Mikaelsons, “to my chosen family,” she pointed towards the Super Squad and Caroline, “we will be there for each other, always and forever.”

They all cheered as they started to touchdown back in Mystic Falls. Caroline had called ahead and asked the kitchen staff to prepare a meal for the group; they had missed dinner after all. They all gathered in the main hall, laughing, eating, and sharing any and all stories they could. The Mikaelsons were curious about all the monsters they had defeated today and how the children had defeated them before. The Salvatore kids, on the other hand, were more interested in all of the stories the Original Family had from their many years on Earth. Hope glanced around, looking at all of her friends and family. It was reminiscent of the last supper they had for her dad. It made her happy.

“Erherm, excuse me everyone. I have an announcement to make,” Caroline stood up from her seat at the head of the table, “I know some of you have been wondering for a little bit now what is going to happen to the school now that Alaric has passed on. Well, it took sometime for me to think about this as well, and to make the decision that is best for all,” the whole group had given the Headmistress their undivided attention, “First and foremost, I will be sticking around from now on. With Josie being a Heretic, there is no need for The Merge anymore, so I don’t have to go on my special ‘recruitment’ missions anymore. Next, we will be changing the curriculum a little bit. After talking with the Mikaelsons, I believe that it is time we start instituting some offensive magic to the classes here. We also will be integrated human blood, in small doses to start obviously. To oversee these two things, I have asked some people to become permanent members of the faculty here. The first two are Marcel and Rebekah. They will become the heads of the Vampires and will help train them in self-defense and offense, as well as helping them curve their appetites once they start tasting human blood.”

The dining hall erupted into thunderous applause. Marcel and Rebekah just nodded and waved as everyone was cheering them on.

“The next faculty member will be Keelin. She will take up the mantel of being the head of the Wolves. Keelin’s experience will be crucial to helping new wolves integrate into the school and she will help them with every transition. We also will be getting rid of the transition cellars. On every full moon, the wolves will be allowed to roam in the back acres, but there will be a fence in place to prevent them from getting too far and risking injuring anyone.” Hope had started to develop tears in her eyes at this point. It seemed like her family was going to be together for the first time in all her life.

“And last but not least, my co-headmaster, or should I say head _mistress_ will be none other than Freya Mikaelson. Freya, you’ve done an amazing job in the short time here you’ve had with Josie and I am honored to have you by my side through the rest of this,” Hope let the waterworks flow now. This was the happiest she has ever been. The rest of the night was a full-on celebration of this small group. It was one of the last ones they would have. It was almost summer, which meant that Hope would be turning 18 and graduating. The night eventually ended and as everyone was cleaning up and leaving, Caroline called Hope over to her.

“Let’s take a walk,” the Headmistress had put her arm around Hope’s shoulder and proceeded to walk with her outside.

It was the perfect kind of night, not too cold, but also not too hot. The pair seemed to be walking for a while until they got to the Old Mill.

“I know you must have a lot on your mind right now. You know, Alaric loved you like a daughter. He loved you so much. I also think of you like another daughter. I sometimes wonder what would have happened if your dad and I worked out. I see a lot of him in you, ya know?” Caroline finally spoke.

“It still amazes me that you and my dad were almost a thing,” Hope had said, a hiccup in her voice, showing she was on the verge of tears.

“It amazes me too. You know, this is where it all happened. Ric shooting your dad one last time while he was telling the twins about the ritual, _the_ ritual to put the Hollow inside of him. I wish I could have been there that night. I just couldn’t bring myself to say goodbye like that, to watch him die. It was too much. He loved you so much; he did all of it for you. Don’t you ever forget that. You will always be loved, Hope Mikaelson. It seems our families just have a way of finding their way to each other, ya know? Ric clung to you like a third daughter. And then, it seems my Josie has taken a liking to you as well,” Caroline raised her eyebrow at the last comment.

“Jo and I care about each other Caroline. We care about each other SO much. I would never hurt her; I only have the purest intentions with her. I think I wanna marry her one day,” Hope started to spill her guts.

“This is cute, watching the big bad tribrid gush over my daughter. I wouldn’t have brought you out here if I didn’t approve of it. You make each other happy, and now; you’ll have eternity together,” Caroline embraced the Mikaelson girl in a motherly hug. “I have one last thing for you. Ric wrote this letter. You’re not supposed to open it until you turn 18 and graduate. I think you’ll like what’s inside of it.” Caroline winked as she walked back towards the school.

By the time they got back, it was definitely night time. Hope had made her way back to her room and opened the door to find her room completely transformed. The window was repaired, her bed had new sheets, and there were candles everywhere, with flower petals leading to her bed. On her bed was none other than Josette Saltzman.

“Hey you,” Josie got up from the bed. It was clear that she was wearing some silk pajamas that hugged her body ever so nicely. Hope was amazed.

“Hey,” Hope looked down and realized she was still wearing what she wore for the past few days. “I look disgusting, I should change. You look beautiful and I don’t want to mess that up. Let me go shower and change, and then I’ll come right back, ok?”

“I laid out an outfit for you in the bathroom already. Take your time, I’ll be here,” Josie said, planting a kiss on Hope’s lips before sending her to get cleaned up.

Hope took no time to get cleaned up and put on the outfit the brunette had picked out for her. It was a nightgown that almost matched the color of Josie’s pajamas. Hope stepped out of the bathroom and took a whiff of the air. Lavender and vanilla; Josie’s scent.

“I missed you,” Josie walked up and wrapped Hope in a hug. “You know, Landon interrupted us the other night. I didn’t get to tell my _girlfriend_ everything about my training. And I didn’t get to hear about her day either,” the brunette put an emphasis on girlfriend that made Hope giggle.

“I like it when you call me your girlfriend,” Hope had directed them to the bed. They fell down on it and both of them lay there, entangled in the other’s arms.

“What did my mom want to talk to you about?” Josie curiously asked as she stared lovingly into the ocean blue eyes of the Mikaelson.

“Oh you know, gave me the third degree about dating you. Then told me how much she loved me like a daughter, and how your dad loved me too. And then she gave me this letter and told me to open it on graduation day,” Hope twirled the letter in her hands, Josie just noticing it now.

“Well, that’s just next week. For now, let’s just stay here. I want to make sure you’re okay; you had an interesting couple of days. How does it feel to be a tribrid? And your family is coming on staff here! Now you get to feel my pain, except there’s more of you than me!” Josie exclaimed. This caused Hope to blush and laugh.

“It’ll be interesting, that’s for sure. Let’s just get some sleep, please? I could really use it right now,” The Tribrid turned to be the little spoon and drifted softly to sleep rather quickly. Josie big spooned her, used her magic to turn out the candles (we don’t need ANOTHER room fire) and kissed her girlfriend on the back of her neck.

“I love you Hope Mikaelson,” the brunette softly spoke before drifting off to her own sleep.

======

The next week flew by. Between the announcements the following morning about Landon, Malivore, and the additions to the faculty roster that will take place when the school year resumes, finals, and then graduation prep, it was like there was no time for students to be _kids_.

Josie and Hope spent all of their free time together now that their secret was out. There were some weird whisperings at first, but after a day or so it died down and everyone was happy for them.

Before they knew it, it was graduation time. The whole Mikaelson family and Super Squad roared and caused a bit of a commotion when Hope’s name was called. It was expected to be honest, but embarrassed Hope nonetheless.

Once all of the names were called and the caps were thrown into the air, Hope walked over to her group of friends to take all the silly pictures they could. Her family soon joined and took lots of serious pictures. The best picture was one of Hope and Josie, each kissing Hope’s cousin Nik from either side on the cheeks. Freya and Keelin couldn’t get enough of this photo. After the commotion had died down, Hope and Josie went back to Hope’s room.

“Are you ready to read this, Hope?” Josie said, referring to the letter Ric had wrote her.

“No, but I don’t think I’ll ever be ready,” Hope started to undo the envelope and open the letter.

_‘Dear Hope,_

_If you’re reading this, then that means I didn’t make it to your graduation to tell you in person._

_Congrats!_

_I’m so proud of you, and I know your family is too. I know you wish your parents could have been here to see you walk across that stage, but know that they are up above watching you and they are so proud of you._

_I know you’ve had some internal struggle deciding what to do next. That’s why I wanted to give you an option, one I think you might enjoy more than college._

_There’s a job I created here at the school that I haven’t been able to fill. No one seemed to be the right candidate. I interviewed countless people for it, but no one seemed to get what the job actually meant. That is, until I met you._

_You came here as this scared, quiet, loner girl with a huge secret and you blossomed into more of a beautiful, fearless, young woman who is a powerful leader. I think you would be the perfect fit for the job here at Salvatore._

_I’d like to officially offer you the job of **Head of Supernatural Affairs.**_

_To put it in simpler terms, you would spearhead a new team of Supernaturals who will be in charge of helping find, contain, and understand the Supernaturals of this world we don’t know about._

_I’m proud of you Hope. I wouldn’t want anyone else to come on board and lead this time._

_Love,_

_Alaric_

Hope was in full-blown tears at this point. Josie was crying right there with her.

“I think I need to go talk to your mom,” Hope spoke.

“I’ll go with you,” the two girls walked out of the room hand in hand towards the headmistress’s office to talk about the note Ric had left. Everything was looking up, and they couldn’t be happier with everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will be one more chapter, an epilogue of sorts.
> 
> Thank you to everyone who has stuck with me through this! It's been super cool and exciting to write and put my work out there and the response from all of you has been great!
> 
> Kudos and Comments are appreciated and will be read, as always :)
> 
> I've had an idea rolling around in my head for a Love, Simon AU that may actually be getting put on paper, so we will see how it goes. 
> 
> Playlist as always :)
> 
> https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6kTAfDr2heApn7BnWwP20N?si=4DSgx2O9RjeX4UV-2vorag


	14. Epilogue: Everything Has Changed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is it! The Epilogue chapter! So exciting!
> 
> It's more of a wrap-up/future state of everything except for the end.

** Everything Has Changed **

_And you'll be mine and I'll be yours_  
All I know since yesterday  
Is everything has changed

It’s been about 15 years since the events of the Prison World and MaliLandon. Everyone in the Super Squad had gone their own paths after they graduated.

Hope had accepted the job Alaric had left for her. The first few months as the Head of Supernatural Affairs were rough; she basically did a lot of the job by herself until she could assemble her department. Eventually, Jeremy came back from the field and joined the team full-time. He was the biggest help. Caroline and Freya allowed her to enlist the help of the senior students every now and then, but only when it was really needed. As the years went on, Hope and Josie’s relationship had stayed strong. They were in love, and Hope proposed when Josie graduated high school. Of course she accepted. They waited a few years to get married, Josie wanted to be done with college first. The wedding took place in June after Josie graduated from Whitmore with her double major in Occult Studies and Education.

Josie had gotten a job as head Witch teacher at the Salvatore School. She could be close to her mom, to her sister, and to Hope. Which was all she needed in her life. She became stronger as the years went on and for a while, joined Hope’s task force on an ‘as needed’ basis; it just so happened that Josie was _always_ needed.

Lizzie and MG finally got married. Lizzie got her degree in journalism and was an on-air personality for a local news station. Caroline was proud of both of her daughters.

Caroline, Freya and the rest of the Mikaelsons wound up doing their stints as full-time teachers/instructors at the Boarding School. They did a lot of good for students coming and going. Marcel eventually moved to the offboarding program and developed career paths for young Supernaturals when they were getting ready to graduate. Not long ago, though, all of them had passed on their mantles to other Supernaturals. Keelin passed her role onto Jed, who had excelled in becoming an Alpha as he got older. Rebekah and Marcel passed on their duties to Kaleb and MG, respectively. Who else to take up the Head Vampire roles than the first two to get mentored by the Original family?

Freya retired as Headmistress the same year as Keelin, wanting to spend more time with her wife. When it came time to select Freya’s replacement as co-Headmistress, it was a unanimous decision by the governing board.

Hope Andrea Mikaelson walked into her new office. It had her name on the front with the words “Headmistress” underneath it. She sat behind her desk and looked at all the pictures and objects around the room.

There was a picture of the OG Super Squad, a picture of all of them goofing off and laughing in the common room.

There were also several pictures of her and the Saltzman Twins; The two girls who she started out hating, but came to love towards the end of her time in school.

A few other pictures scattered around the room. One of her and Ric, one of her and her family at Freya/Keelin’s wedding, a picture of her mom, dad, Uncle Elijah and Auntie Bex holding her as a baby.

The last picture she looked at was the most recent addition; it was her and Josie, kissing a little girl and boy on either side of their cheeks.

While Hope was reminiscing and taking in the surroundings in her new office, the door burst open suddenly!

“Mom! Ricky is being mean to me!” the same girl from the photo was walking in.

“Am not, Haile!” the boy following her was the same boy from the photo.

Hope bent over and scooped the girl into her arms “What happened babygirl?”

“He said that I’m not gonna be as powerful as him because I was born 10 minutes later!” the girl huffed and buried her head into Hope’s neck.

“Ricky, what did we say about picking on your sister?” Hope was scolding her son now.

“That’s not fair! She started! She said I was gonna die first because I was older!” the boy crossed his arms and turned around, “You always take her side!”

“Alaric Elijah, Hayley Olivia! You do NOT run away from me!” Josie had finally made it through the door to her wife’s office and saw the scene unfolding, “Aw buddy, don’t cry, come here. Let momma pick you up,” Josie scooped Ric in her arms and walked over towards Hope and Hayley, “Hey baby,” Josie leaned in and gave Hope a kiss.

“Hey love, how was your day?” Hope had asked.

“Oh you know, kids are pent up over summer break, and with these two arguing, it’s a hassle. But hey! You got your new office set up!” Josie was looking around at everything.

“Yeah, it took a bit, but I’m really happy with it. Now, about these two,” Hope had gestured with her head between the children, “Hey kiddos, how about you both apologize for being mean to each other and we can go get milkshakes tonight at the Grill? Does that sound like a plan?”

“I’m sorry Ricky, I shouldn’t have said you were going to get old and die first,” Hayley had turned around first.

“It’s ok Haile, I accept your apology,” Ricky seemed content with not saying anything more, until Josie pinched him, “Ow! Fine, I’m sorry I said you weren’t gonna be a good witch because you’re younger.”

“Apology accepted! Can we get milkshakes now?!” Hayley had looked at her mothers with wide eyes.

“Not yet, Mommy has to lock up the office and then we can go, you go with Momma and pull the car around, I’ll be right out,” Hope had let her daughter down and smiled as her family walked out of the room.

The twins had walked into their lives about five years ago. They came from a family that had no idea they had any relation to anything magical until the twins were born and nearly took the wife out during labor. The attending doctor was Elena and had contacted Caroline and Freya when she realized what was going on. Caroline and Freya had gone to the family’s home to explain to them what was going on and the family was so in shock that they didn’t know how to handle it. The parents decided to give the twins up for adoption early on, hoping they could get placed quickly so they weren’t in the system for long. Luckily for the kiddos, Caroline and Freya knew the perfect parents who were trying to find kids of their own to adopt. In a few weeks time, Josie and Hope became a family of four, and the two girls couldn’t be happier.

Hope reflected on everything that had happened in the past 15 years, and the few years before that and knew that there was a reason for it all. A reason that she found Josie.

Hope finally fulfilled the last wish her mother had for her;

To have a totally _epic_ love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you one final time to everyone who has read this whole fic!
> 
> It was my first time writing/posting something like this, and I could not be more excited over all the comments and kudos left on this story! It really warms my heart.
> 
> I may have a new fic ready to go up in the new year, but I'm having a hard time trying to hash it out and get it to be the voice I want it in.
> 
> Playlist, updated for the last time:  
> https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6kTAfDr2heApn7BnWwP20N?si=QZuh9EZ8RtmTYGjFRmaImw


End file.
